One's The Lonliest Number
by eimaj96
Summary: Eric Northman has thrived on his incapability to feel commitment, or to feel anything at all. His newest target for ravishment appears to be Sookie Stackhouse, the elusive fairy. But in his attempt to capture her, he sees another, and she changes him. But is she human? Does she even want to change Eric, or be left alone? E/OC, lots of lemons, continue at your own risk.
1. Chapter 1

I shoved the stranger back into the room, eyes sparking. I felt my heart beating, my hands tingling. He was handsome, incredibly attractive, but so caught up in himself his chi was swirling with self love. He stumbled back into his house, surprised by my violence, and then he, too, seemed to ignite a spark within himself.

I charged into the house, kicking the door shut behind me, and grabbed onto his shoulder. "What's your name." he breathed, tugging on the hem of my shirt.

"Alice." I muttered, unbuttoning his. I could feel his muscles through his shirt, the tight, taught skin. His chi was heaving, pulsing into me. I moaned. It felt so good to feed again. I had been so hungry.

"You're so pretty." He mumbled. I rolled my eyes. His southern accent helped highlight his stupidity. I just wanted him to shut up. I wanted his body, his chi, not him or his voice or useless thoughts. I stepped back to pull my shirt off, leaving me in my bra. He ogled at my body. I pushed him backwards, down the hallway. He caught onto my idea, and kicked his bedroom door open. I was hit with the awful stench of man, and my nose wrinkled. But I'd been in enough situations like this. I could ignore it.

He pulled my bra off and devoured my breasts. I moaned. He was stupid, but talented. His tongue rolled across my nipple, his hands needing the soft flesh. I felt heat between my legs, a need growing in the pit of my stomach. I let a piece of his chi absorb into me. I shuddered form the sheer feel of it.

I pushed him backwards onto his unmade bed and systematically unbutton his pants, pulling his boxers off. I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. I had forty minutes before I needed to get to work, my first day on the job, so I had no time to mess around. No foreplay, sadly. I shimmied out of my own pants and panties, leaving me completely naked.

He was adequately equipped in the man area, and I knew I had chosen right. Feeding always felt so good when I was being pleasured right. I grabbed onto his pulsing member and stroked it once, twice, and ran my fingers over the tip. His head rolled back and he groaned. "God, you know what you're doing." He groaned. I crawled onto the bed, letting go of him. I looked into his eyes, licking my lip. He watched me, almost in awe. This was when the men shut up, usually. When they watch me. I was animalistic with hunger and need and it captivated them. Me feeding off of them was just as pleasurable for me as it was for them.

I straddled his hips and ran my hand up his smooth chest. He shaved his chest? Jesus, these Southern men were so strange…

"I don't know what you're doing tomorrow," he breathed out, voice thick. "But there's this great restaurant over in Shreverport—"

I lowered myself onto him, letting him enter me inch by glorious inch until I covered him completely. I let out a small sigh. His chi shifted, breathed into me. I felt tingly. He shut up, thankfully, as I began to move, to turn my hips into him, let him fill me. I held onto his chest as I moved, let him in deeper. His hands reached up, brushed over my nipples. I gasped, moaned, fed.

His chi, a glorious aroma of light and tastes, pulsed from his body. I watched the light of it absorb into my body, watched it drawn to me. When I was around someone's chi, it was as if it no longer wanted to stay with its owner, like it waited so long just to belong to me.

And I let it. I let go of his chest, swiveling my hips, running my hands through my hair. His chi was fit, firm, not the best I'd ever tasted but there was something in there, something new, and it sparked a glorious flavor. There was a tightening in my body, I knew I was close. I glanced down at the guy, this complete stranger, saw him clenching his eyes closed. He held onto my hips, but did nothing to guide me. He was caught up in his pleasure.

I felt my orgasm hit hard, felt every barrier crumble loose in glorious trembles and his chi roared off of him, tumbled into my own body. I shuddered and couldn't breathe, it was so marvelous. I rolled off of him quickly, knowing I would kill him if I didn't break contact with him. I was still lost in the orgasm, the feel of the new chi circling inside of him. I could still taste his emotions, his past life, his family, his friends, his middle school crushes, his everything. While his chi blended with mine and every other I'd had, I _knew_ him. He was no longer a stranger. He was a boy who'd lived here in Bon Temps his whole life. His parents were dead, and he had an unbearable urge to protect his sister. I saw her through his memories, saw her beauty. She looked like she absorbed the sunshine she tanned in. Maybe, when I was finished with him, I could give her a go…

Jason was groaning and breathing heavy. I glanced over at him when I could see again, past his own life, saw him shuddering from his orgasm. I sighed and wiped the sweat from my forehead. I pulled myself off of his bed, and pulled on my pants and bra. My shirt was in the living room. He was still regaining himself, I knew it was overwhelming sometimes to lose your life force. I'd never experienced it, but I figured it was something extraordinary. You grow up with your own life force every second of your life. You don't know it's there, you don't know it's yours, until someone, me, takes it from you, and it feels incredible.

I'm pulling the blouse back onto my body when Jason emerges, naked. I glance over my shoulder at him and roll my eyes. He's got that cocky look on his face most men get when I'm finished with them. It's like they think, they seem to _know_, that they're obviously the best I've ever had. They _know_ that secretly all us women are never going to want another man after them.

He saunters over to me, the pads of his feet hitting the old wooden floors with soft thuds. His arms snake around my waste, his hands clasping on my stomach, as he kisses my neck in big wet spots. Ugh, gross. I surged out of his grip and finished pulling my shirt on. I shifted my hair, fixed everything that needed to be fixed, and turned to him. "I need to go to work." I said, smiling sweetly at him.

I ran my hands over his chest, his abs—damn they were so smooth—and gave him a sweet look. Honestly, though, I just wanted tiny little last tastes of him before I left. He was cocky, but he tasted so good. He thought he was so good in bed that he didn't need to try, which made him awful. I doubted my orgasm would have hit at all if his chi hadn't been so mind blowing. I wondered what made him different.

"When will I see you again?" he smiles down at me, trying to keep that tough guy look on. But he feels connected to me right now, he doesn't know why, doesn't know his life force is turning within my body, and he wants me to stay. I stopped myself from rolling my eyes again.

"You won't." I say sweetly, and kiss him on the tip of his nose. "Bye."

I turn to rush out the door. We took my car back here. I'd grown smart over the years. Before, when the man always drove me to their house, it'd been real awkward when I left them, and had to walk a few miles before finding some form of transportation. Sometimes the man found me, wandering the streets. He'd rushed to his car, driven around in a blind madness to find me again. Those ones always ended bad.

"Wait!" he said. He sounded desperate. From the taste of him, I knew he didn't do this. One night stands were his thing. I'd sort of hoped that would help with this moment, but it seemed to make no difference.

I turned back to him reluctantly, only because I was still trying to find my keys in my pocket. "I'm—my names Jason." He stuttered. "Jason Stackhouse."

Ah, so this was the part my eyes widened and I realized he was the guy in town everyone talked about, everyone wanted. And then I would rush to him and beg to stay so I could brag about him. I smiled at him tightly. "Good for you, Jason. Not many guys—or girls for that matter—remember their own names when I finish with them."

Ahah! I fished my keys out a bolt through the door. When I look back, he's standing in the doorway, cock hanging in the warm morning air, staring at me with a dazed look on his face.

Even as I drove away, I could see him watching me go.

…..

Merlotte's is a small little diner. It's run down and dirty, but it's warm. I'm only able to see and feed off of the energy of people, but I can still feel the atmosphere of the place, and I bask in the calming sense of Merlotte's. The other waitresses were already there. There was a woman with an awful red dye job sitting at the bar, talking to another woman with long black hair. I nodded to them. They smiled, but their chi was prickling, charging the air with their judgments of me.

A new pretty thing in the restaurant? What was going to happen to their tips?

I ignored them and walked down the hall. I had time to run home after Jason and tear on my uniform, brush my hair, and put some mascara on before running here. I was on time, thank god, and I was fed enough to be around so many people, so many life forces, for later today when my shift really started.

I knocked on Sam's door as he had instructed me to do when I came here tonight. "Come in." his gruff voice sounded.

I opened the door and peeked in. His office was just as I had remembered it from when he gave me my interview. He smiled when he saw me, and waved to a seat. "Good to see you." He said. "Sookie is going to be in soon, and she's going to show you the works of this place real quick before the lunch rush comes in. She's a real sweetheart, you can trust her."

I smiled, feeling his affection for her. I wondered if they were together, but by the way he called her sweetheart made it sound like he was a guy off in the shadows with a crush on the hot girl.

"You can keep all the tips tonight, and it shouldn't be too busy anyways. It's a Tuesday afternoon. Usually we only get the police department on their brakes, watch out for Andy though, he's a dick. Other than that, it should be easy. Lafayette is in the kitchen already, you can meet him if you want. Terry's the other cook, he isn't in today, but you work tomorrow, right?"

I nodded, keeping silent while he continued. "Good, you can meet him then. The other waitresses are in tomorrow, too. That's Holly and Arlene out there, by the way. I'd be careful what you say around Arlene, she's a high school girl when it comes to gossip. Actually that goes for the whole town. Don't be surprised when rumors start flying around about you for the first few weeks. We don't get a lot of new people in Bon Temps."

I nodded my head, still smiling. I liked his energy. I'd tasted his chi when I first met him, and recoiled in disgust. I'd tasted some awful life forces in my past, but his was—like poison. It hurt my muscles and chest, filled my body with an awful, awful ache. He wasn't human, but I didn't care. He was nice, and he seemed to be a good boss.

"Sorry I'm late!" a voice called from somewhere in the restaurant. "Jason showed up late for work and people were asking me where he was and then he just showed up out of nowhere. I think he might have done some crazy drugs or something, he was so out of it."

I looked at Sam, eyebrows raised. He smiled wider. "And that'd be Sookie."

When she walked in, I instantly recognized her, even though I had never met her before. I swore under my breathe. She was Jason's sister, the beautiful girl I had seen from Jason's chi. She paused when she saw me, and plastered a smile onto her face. "Well hey there!" she said, rushing over to me, hand outstretched. I stood, and shook it awkwardly. "I'm Sookie. You're Alice, right?"

"That'd be me." I said, smiling.

She gave me another smile before turning to Sam and giving him a more pleading smile. "I'm real sorry, Sam." She pleaded. "I didn't mean to be late I—"

"It's fine, Sook." Sam said. "You can make it up by showing Alice around, okay?"

She let out a breath. "Thanks, Sam."

She grabbed onto my hand, surprising me. Her chi tasted like Jason's, but more pronounced. I wondered if the two of them were completely human. How many weirdoes were in this town? Actually, I shouldn't be speaking.

She pulled me to the break room, where she dropped her bag and pulled her blonde hair up into a tight pony tail. "So it's really easy around here. You just got to have a lot of energy."

"I've got plenty, don't worry." I assured her. Mostly from your brother, though.

She looked up at me sharply, eyes wide. "What'd you say?" she whispered tightly.

"I- I said I have plenty of energy." I took a step back. She was staring at me intently, like I had said something wrong, like I had offended her. She searched me for a little while before sighing.

"Sorry." She muttered. "It's been a long day."

"Don't worry about it." I said cautiously."

After that, things are smooth. She shows me my section, how the tables are run, how to treat a customer. I assure her I know how to be a waitress, but she takes it upon herself anyways to show me everything, and introduce me to everyone.

It took only a little while before the lunch rush slowly eased itself into the restaurant. Sam had been right, and it was slow. I met the entire police department, and they were all so nice. They left shitty tips though. I soon learned that everyone in this shit heap of a town did.

By the time my break came, an hour or two after sundown, I'd made barely any money from tips, and I was exhausted. Sookie was rushing around and I watched her hustle about, her energy endless. I wondered what it'd be like to feed from her. But I knew she's never have sex with a woman, she was too traditional. I could seduce her, manipulate her chi, but that was still new to me. I'd only discovered I could do it while crushing on this hot guy at my last job. I wanted to get in his pants so bad that I'd actually manipulate his chi into thinking he wanted me, too. I accidentally drained him while we were having sex. While the cops investigated his murder, I fled town.

"How do you do it?" I asked Sookie, rubbing my temples. The dinner rush was maddening. This was a much more popular place than I thought it would be. That could be because it was basically the only eating establishment in the entire town.

"Do what?" she asks, while she has two seconds to herself and is waiting by the window for her order to come up.

"Keep up with it all and not just punch someone right in the face?"

She laughs, and it's a sweet laugh. "I'm just used to it."

"I thought my old job was tough." I sighed.

She tilted her head to the side, her eyes searching me in that odd way again. "You were a 911 operator?" she asked, impressed.

I looked at her, startled. "How'd you know that?"

She looks at me, surprised by herself, then gives me a tight smile. "You mentioned it earlier." She lies. Her chi is heavy with the weight of it.

I shake my head. "No, I didn't."

She nods her head. "Yes, you did. How else would I know that?"

Her chi snaps into focus more then, as her heartbeat raises and she glances away.

I take a step back, shocked. "Holy shit!" I shriek. I feel the members in the diner hush down a bit. I can't see them from the break room, but they obviously hear me. I lower my voice. "I've never met a telepath before." I breathed. Maybe that's why her chi tasted so sweet. "I've met psychics and some telekinetic chicks before, but not a telepath."

Her eyes looked around, she bit her lip. "No one's ever said it right to me before." She says softly.

"Says what?" I asked.

"Tells me what I am, straight to my face." She elaborated. She still wouldn't look at me. "They all know, or some know but deny it to themselves, but they never say it."

"Why?" I say, laughing, bemused. "It's what you are. Just go right out there and say it."

"Well then what are you?" she snaps back at me. I feel taken aback by the sudden change. I think I offended her. She reminded me of when I was younger, when I refused to think of my abilities as a part of me, but rather an annoying extension of who I was. She was in her twenties and still believed the same thing. It was kind of—stupid. And annoying. Was she trying to purposely make her life miserable?

"I'm something different." I said with a sly smile.

Her eyes searched me. Knowing what she was, what she could do, I first noticed the slight pressure in my temples, the little fingers weeding through my mind. "Stop that!" I hissed at her. It felt so excruciatingly violating for her to nose around my head. Her eyes widened, and know she took a step back. She blushed a deep red, ashamed of being caught. "You have no right going into my head like that."

"I'm—I'm sorry." She says quietly. "I just—"

I tie my apron back on then, not listening anymore. I don't care, all I know is that I need a better guard up now. I'm surrounded by freaks, just like me. My boss is inhuman someway, my coworker is a telepath, next thing I know a freaking vampire is going to walk through the door.

And speak of the fucking devil.

The chime on top of the door twinkled as he entered. I'd been around vamps before, knew what their chi felt like. It was very odd, very comforting. It was like I was in a hot sun, and someone was washing me down with a cold cloth. It felt nice. How ironic, that vamps were such ruthless, bloodthirsty creatures and they calmed me more than any human could.

I glanced at him as I walked to my section. He was tall, very much so, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was fuck-me-all-night-long-for-the-rest-of-my-life hot. Sookie rushed past me to him as I walked away. I could feel her chi bristling, and I smiled. Sookie, the telepath, was about to get in a fight with a vampire.

I think I liked this job, no matter how many surprises there was.

I had a new customer, a fat old lady who couldn't decide what she wanted. I'd convince her on a burger, then she'd decide on a steak, then she'd want a salad.

When I finally got her order, all she wanted was a black coffee.

I was walking away, shoving my note pad back into the apron. "Fucking kidding me." I mumbled. "You should be going on a diet and a nice long run lady, not coming in here."

And then I felt it.

I felt it and it was so sharp in a change it almost hurt.

I'd been walking back to the bar where the coffee maker was, to pour her a cup. It was normal. I could just make out Sookie's heated words towards the vampire, but the rest of the diner blocked out anything I could make out to be English. I was so full from Jason's chi that I barely fed besides a few licks here and there off of the more decent folks. Sometimes I couldn't help it.

The room was filled and intertwining with life forces. It was like walking into a party, all the voices shouting over one another. You can't make anything out.

Until I felt one chi shift. It's emotions remained the same. Its "voice", or its attitude, remained the same. But the chi itself seemed to mold into a new shape. I couldn't explain it, I'd never felt anything like it before. I hit me in the gut and I stop instantly, looking around for the source. It was warming, the chi was. I felt it above all others. My body yearned for the new warmth of the chi, wanted to feed. It was as if I hadn't just fed, like I was so hungry now, starving. I wanted the chi. I wanted all of it, didn't even care if I killed someone.

I found the vampire, standing by the door with Sookie. She was going off on him in her cute little kitten way. But he wasn't looking at her anymore.

He was looking at me.

His fangs were out, his eyes on me, black, almost completely. His chi had changed. I knew it was him instantly, just by looking at the light around him, the glow of his life force. It was shifting and moving and changing as I looked right at it. It was in turmoil, fighting itself. It looked painful, and I wondered if it was just a vampire thing.

I knew I smelled different to them, and near death experience a few years back told me that. I could see hunger in his eyes. I wondered if this change in chi was him having a sudden hunger. Was he going to attack me, right in the restaurant?

Was he that stupid?

I looked away from him quickly and scurried to the coffee. I'd get the fat lady her coffee, and then wait to see if I was going to die.

*************E**************

Eric sat at his desk, drumming his fingers on his desk. He was thinking about that human, Sookie, how sickly sweet she was. She was beautiful, a telepath, and definitely fairy. She was interesting. Annoying, but interesting.

And no thanks to that nuisance Bill Compton, he'd never be able to taste the girl. Bill and his fucking Southern gentlemen ways had stolen her from him. All Eric wanted was a little taste of her, maybe a nice fuck or two. Was that so bad?

Yet Bill hadn't claimed her yet. She was still a virgin. He hadn't even bitten her. He'd come to Eric a few weeks ago, saying he was going to lay claim to a human. When Eric went to check her out from afar, she stuck out as inhuman. Bill was a fucking idiot. He should have waited to ask permission for the claim of the woman after he actually claimed her. There wasn't anything wrong with that, only that he'd have a few slaps to the wrist. But like he had said, Bill was a southern gentlemen.

And now Eric was going to have her first.

He pulled his jacket off of the back of his chair and left his office. The atmosphere of the club shifted as the fangbanger's saw him. Their eyes sought out his, begging for him, his cock, his bite in their necks, his pleasure. He passed by them all to Pam, who stood by the door in her skin tight leather dress. She smiled at him.

"Where are you off to with that look in your eyes, Mr. Northman?" she drawled.

"I was thinking I'd fuck a fairy." He responded.

Pam smiled, bared her fangs, and let him pass. "Good luck." She said quietly after him, but he heard, and chuckled.

He took his car, knowing it impressed most women. Not Sookie, he guessed, but it didn't hurt to show off a little wealth now and then. He drove to Bon Temps, thinking of every way he'd take Sookie.

First he'd have to charm her. He'd make her feel beautiful. He'd make her feel wanted. Then he'd take her back to her house. She'd invite him in because she trusted him. Eric like that, and smiled at the thought. Sookie was too innocent for her own good.

He'd follow her into her old home, and as she threw her keys onto the table by the door, he'd walk up close behind her, and breathe lightly on the back of her neck. She'd shiver; goose bumps would rise up her arms.

He'd touch her bare arm lightly, run his cold fingers up across her skin, to her collarbone. He'd brush up her neck, up the side of her face, through her hair. She'd be trembling beneath his touch. He'd turn her around, take her face in his hands and capture her in a kiss. She'd be blown away. She'd feel passion for the first time and it'd exhilarate her. She'd take from that kiss that Eric cared for her, although she'd find out after he didn't.

She'd lead him to her room, not knowing they could do it anywhere, it was more exciting, more adventurous. All she'd know is that it usually happened in the bed. Eric would strip her down carefully, tenderly. She'd be scared off easily, he'd know this, and he'd be gentle. She'd be naked, and scared. She'd blush, try to cover herself, but he wouldn't let her. She'd be thin and beautiful, and he'd capture her breast within his mouth, tease her nipples, and make her gasp and shiver beneath his touch. He'd push her back onto the bed. It'd scare her, knock the breathe out, but then excite her. She'd want him. He'd be able to smell it in the air.

He'll fall atop her, kiss her lips. They'd taste like strawberries, he mused. He'd kiss down her chest, across her breast. Her heart would be hammering as he kissed her inner thigh, ran his hands along her skin. He'd look up, see her hooded virgin eyes look down at her as he dipped his tongue across her core, making her gasp. She'd taste splendid, he'd know this. He could smell her sometimes, when she didn't know it. He knew she'd taste even better than she smelled.

She's be screaming for him with pleasure, twisting and turning. He'd fit a finger inside her, curl it across her sweat spot. She'd beg for him. She'd be wet and panting. He'd strip himself down fast, before she could even blink. She'd see his aching manhood, and be scared. He was big, and she was a virgin. She knew it'd hurt. He'd caress her, ease her pains into pleasure, and then he'd enter her. She'd cringe at the pain at first, maybe cry. Then it'd pass as he moved inside her. He'd pound into her, his cock twitching and make her scream. Maybe Bill would hear her, hear her scream his name as she climaxed, hear Eric grunt as he unloaded inside her.

Eric smiled as he drove to Merlotte's, knowing she was working tonight. He was hard beneath his pants, just thinking about it. He shifted his position, and sped up faster. Merlotte's was packed, which always surprised him. It had awful food and service. No one should want to stay there. He pulled into a dark corner of the lot.

He could smell Sookie in the lot, even though he assumed she had been here for a long time, hadn't been in the parking lot for a long time. She was so extremely potent.

And then there was another scent, also. He was passing a car when it hit him. He stopped, paused, and looked around. There was no one out here, and it was a stale scent. He glanced down at the small car. He cringed. The thing shouldn't even be running it was so old and dirty and rusted. He glanced in the windows, and found nothing unusual. But still, the scent wasn't human, but it wasn't anything he'd ever smelt before. Maybe Sookie had relatives besides Jason she had failed ot mention.

He entered the small establishment, and sound Sookie instantly. She seemed startled, maybe a bit hurt. He wondered what had happened, but frankly he dind;t care at all. He saw her, and all he could do was picture her beneath him, screaming his name. He smiled. He caught site of a brunette moving away from her, figured the two waitresses had gotten into some sort of fight. He dind;t pay her any attneiton, although he could smell that scent more, knew whoever it was was in here, and had been for a while.

Sookie saw him instantly, and he was amused by the sparek of anger in her eyes. She stormed over to him. He wondered if she could be that energetic during sex. He hoped so. "Eric Northman." She hissed, coming to a sotp in front of him. She was just a tiny human. She had no idea he could kill her now, kill everyone in this room, and would not feel a thing. She thought she was powerful with her "talent", but thaqt didn't make her immortal. On the contrary, it made her a target to kill. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see where you worked." He said, sniffing the air and looking around. That scent was bugging him. He wanted to see who it was. He saw that other waitress, the one Sookie had been arguing with earlier. He could only see her side. She was taking an order form a fat ld lady,a nd he smiled, seeing her annoyance from the woman's indecision. "Who's the new girl?"

"The new girl?" she looked around, and spotted the waitress. Eric sighed. She was dim witted sometimes, and that only annoyed him. "Oh, that's Alice. Tongihts her fis=rst night. Look, Eric, you can't just show up here. I'm seeing Bill now, I don't think he'd like it if—"

He tuned Sookie out, not caring about what she said. He found th waitress curious. There was something different about her. He wondered, faintly, if that scent was hers. Hoped it was. She seemed to have a different spirit than most humans. He was msiling when the fat woman ordered a coffee. Thew waitress—Alice—paused wuth the pen in her hand, obviously angry.

"Fine." He heard her say through clenched teeth. He snatched her menu form her, and turned around.

And then he felt it.

He was overcome with a sense of possession unlike anything he's felt before. _Mine._ He wanted to growl to the room. _She's mine._

She was beautiful, with long brown hair, wide brown eyes, a slender body and lgowing skin. She looked like other woman, other humans, but here was an energy about her ha made her stand out.

Eric watched her swear and mumble thing as she wlaked away, bristling with anger. He wanted her. He wanted to race across the room and take her right there. He wanted to bit einto her neck, take her blood, and claim her. He wanted her, and he wanted her to want him, and only him. She was his. No one elses. His.

And then Alice stopped in the middle of the restauraunt, muscles tightening. Eric watched her. He dind;t feel his fangs slide out, didn't realize Sookie was gasping, watching him in horror. Didn't care. SAlice was looking around, confused and then she found him. _You're mine._ He tried telling her. _You're mine, and I'm going to take you._

She looked away quickly. Things quieted around him, even Sookie's rebutes to his fangs coming out, and could only hear her heart beat, picking up. He knew she was scared. He dind;t care. He only wanted her, to be insdie her, to have her against a wall, wet and crying for him. He wanted her over the counter, her taut ass in his face. He wanted to taste her blood, wanted it flowing through him. He wanted her to cum on him, to see her face as pleasure coursed through her.

She scurried away to behind the bar.

Eric took a step towards her. He was fully prepared to take her, carry her in his arms before hse knew what was happening and fly her away somewhere secluded. She'd want him, he'd make sure of that. But he'd have her. He needed to have her.

"Eric!" Sookie's shrill voice cut into him like a knife. He flinched, and looked down at her. Someone of the patrons in the establishment where whispereing and looking at him. He looked around th bar. His fangs slid back into place, and he felt a ball of anger curl his stomach. The4se stupid humans were stnaidn in hsiw ay of that woman. Her back was to him. He wanted her. He ached for her.

He trned around and lfew fomr the restaurant so fast he almost tookt he doors off of their hinges. He ran to his car and into the seat, but he dind;t drive away, didn't eben start the car. He watched the restaurant, waiting for her to get off.

His phone rang in his pocket and he roared in frustration. He answered it. "What."

"Eric?" it was Pam. "Are you alright I felt your emotions, they were crazy—"

"Not now, Pam." He said, his voice tight.

"Eric—"

"Not now!" he roared.

"Damn it Eric calmt he fuck down!" Pam hissed. He paused, surprised by her statement.

"Check yourseld, Pam." Eric warned.

"I am. But you're out of control, I can feel it. I don't know what's happening. I;ve never felt you like this before. Somethings happened, and id on;t need to know what, but you need ot calm down before you do something stupid."

Eric seethed over the phone, holding it to his ear but not saying anything. He knew Pam was right. If he tookt he girl now, in the middle fot he shift, he;d raise a bunch fo shit he dind;t need to deal with right now.

And again, he paused. Why, firstly, was hje even feeling this way? He mused that it must be the girls scent. He had never smelt anything like ti before. It was intoxicating, wonderful. He invisioned it now, the taste of her blood, and that almost drove him mad with hunger. But she was also just another girl. Sookie's blod smelled wonderful, it's why he wanted to take her so much. But this girl… hm.

"There." Pam sighed. "You're calming down. But honestly, Eric, what the fuck!" he could feel she was pissed, and he msiled. She was good at getting him out fo moods. "You scared me hlf to death. I'm here fucking some fangabnger and I nearly kill her from the shock of it. Are you—are you alright?"

She cautious, almost scared. "I'm fine, Pam. Get back to you… activities. I'll be fine."

He hears her sigh. "Alright."

She hangs up quickly, trusting him and not pushingthe subject which he appreaciates. Eric leans back in his sea,t throwing the phone onto thew passenger seat. He lets out along, unnatural breathe, and styares at the restaurant. He can fel his member straining against his pants,a nd rubs it to relieve some of the stress.

He wanted that girl. He wanted to fuck her and drink her blood. But inside there was a nasty turmoil he couldn't unravel. It was painful. Parts of him were waking up, and he tried to push them back, command them to fall dormant again.

No, he wouldn't take the girl tongith. He'd take her, but not tonight. He needed to figure this out, whatever it was, before he did something he regretted. So he sat in the dark cvorner of the parking lot, and he waited for her to come out.

************A************

The shift dwindled down to a lcose slowly. Sookie had an awful couple in her section. Their Chi tasted awful. Whenever I pssed them it made me cringe. It was infected, diseased, and dirty.

I'd forgiven Sookie literally within six seconds of the mini fight. I never held a grudge. Not because I couldn't because believe me I could, but because ei thougth she was ggenuinly nice,a nd imagined she'd never practiced controlling her "disability" as she told me she viewed it.

There wwere maybe thirty mintues left before close, and that rat trap couple was still there, heads closed, whispering. Sookie was standing at the bar, chewing on her lip. She looked concerned. "Hey Sookie." Is aid, comignt o her side. My section was empty, an diw as just finishing cleaning the tables. "They giving you trouble, you want me tokick their asses?"

She dind;t even give me a fake smile, as I elanred she wsa good at doing. "Sook?" I said, concerned. "Hey, what';s wrong?"

"You know that vampire that was in here earlier?" I frowned, shivering. Yeah, ir emebered him. I remembered that look in his eyes, like he was going to kill me, drain me, leave me on the side of the road for some poor soul to find. But then I remembered his chi, and how—exquisite it tasted. I could still feel it, the memory of it, turning inside of me. Is ighed. I could only image feeding off of him, what it'd fele like. Would ie ven begin to take it or would I just pass out formt hat pleasure?

"Ye,a I remember him." I said, keeping my face strght. 'What about him?"

"Those couple over there are the Ragrays, they deal V. They think he;s still in the pakring lot, just sitting n his car. Their going to drain him." Her voice had lowered to a whisper, and she looked up at me, eyes scared and desperate.

I was shocked. I looked at her. "Jesus." I breathed. "We have to—we've got to call the cops."

Sookie shook her head. Her blonde ponytail waved. "It'll be too late, their going to go out there any minute. We've got to stop them."

"We?" she was looking at me with wide eyes. "Oh, no, no no no, id on;t get involved with vampires."

"Even if it involves saving one?" she asked, exasperated. I could tell she was nervous, scared. "Alice, we've got to do something they are going to kill him!"

IU glanced around to see if anyone had heard her, and froze. "Oh. Oh no, Sookie."

She turned around, followed my line of vision, and saw the empty table the ratrays had occupied. "Shit!" she cried.

Without another thought she rushed out of the place. "Sookie!" I calle,d but she blew past my voice and out the door. "Fuck!"

Sam came running out, eharing the raised voices. He looked frazzled. " What? What's happening?"

H eloked around. He probably thought there were some disruptive customers. "Sookie is about to do some stupid shit." I growled. I suffered internally form my own turmoil and then let out a frustrated sigh. "Stay ehre, Sam." I said. I gave him a long, hard look.

I follweod Sookie quickly, jogging outside. It was wamr out. Quiet. I stopped running. It was quiet. I listned carefully, but I couldn't ehar a damn thing. There was chi out here, though. That I could feel.

I slowly walked, trying to follow the energy. It was hard htough, I'd never been good at tracking down chi specifically, only because I never had to. I pretty much followed a blind triail, trying to walk quietly, but my shoes against the gravel seemed deafening.

Finally I heard something. There was a soft noise somewhere in the light. And then I ehard Sookie. She was starteds to scream, but ti was cut off. I heard a groan.

I ran forward them, sprinted, searching the night. I found her under a dim light, flickering, going out for a few seoncds then coming on to light the horrific scene in fornt of me.

The white trash couple had Sookie on the ground. She clutched her stomach. Her face was bleeding. The kicked her in the back. She tried to scream but gurled, coughed out blookd. "Please." She begged. She coughe,d couldn't breathe.

"Fuck." I breathed, so startled I ahd actually sotpped. "What the fuck are you doing Alice!" I ran forward. "Hey!"

The couple looked upa t me with their whitetrash eyes, their skinny limbs, so caked out on drugs. "This aint got nothing to do with you." Th man said. He had someteeth missing. "Run along now, before you get yourself in sometrouble."

"Maybe trouble is what I'm looking for." I snapped. I Kept coming at them. Sookie was choking on the ground, and that made me angry. So angry. They were going to kill her. She had come out here to save a god damn vampire and now she was bout to die for it. If I hadn't come out here—I could just imagine someone walking down here, and seeing a pretty blonde, dead and beaten no the gravel.

"Kill her!" the woman screamed. She had a scratchy, awful voice. Ic ringed at the sound of it. The man pulled out a gun. It was silver, heavy in his hand. It glittered in the moonlight. I think I heard a car door slam behind me. I dind;t care. I ws being consumed by my anger, something I'd worked my whole life on. It was so dangerous ot mwe. So incredaubly dangerous.

He shot me.

The sound was a roar in the night air and I saw the aprk fomr the barrel of the gun. The bullet his me in the shoulder. I hissed in pain, gritting my teeth, but kept going. It hurt a lot. It had torn through the muscle and bone and out the other side.

"The fun?" he said, surprised by my lack of pause. He shot again. It hit my side. Is tumbled ont hat one, feeling my liver splinter. I felt the organ begin to shut down.

But it didn't matter, I was in front fo him now.

I touched his cheek with the palm of my hand, and let the walls come down. His chi poured into me. It felt awful. My bones cried fomr the aful mutilated taste of it. Life force had to go througha lot to get to this point. It had tp be beaten, ahd to be kike dinthe ass endlessly to be bruised so horribly.

He raised his eyebrows, feeling it. He dropped the gun. Iw as taking so much at such an exaggerate rate that he was falling itno shock. He was being stripped of his life like someone pulling a bandaide off quckly. It was painful, but soon he'd feel nothing.

He felt the tail end of his life enter through my finger tips and sucked in a tough breathe. The last bullet he shot at me had ravaged me liver. I felt my body shutting down. My vision was going black. The woman was screaming. She was running away, into the woods. She'd started running even before her husband was dead. Cheep bitch didn't even stick aournd ot save him.

I let her go, and instead fell to my knees. I felt someone watching me, tasted someones chi, but pain hit my body, startled me.

I cried out as spasm rocked my body. I tasted the new chi circling around my body, and let it become me. Usually the chi stays not as a part of me, but an attachment. It was stuck to me. It wasn't my actual finger, but a ring I wore on my finger.

Now I let the chi become a part of me. It was excruciating. I wanted to scream but I choked on it and fell to my back. I arched up to the sky, tembling. I felt my liver stitch itself back together. My shoulder healed itself. It used so much chi. I felt tired and drained. My wound was only half healed when ic ollaspsed. I couldn't do it anymore.

Sookie was breathing awful. It was a wheeze, quiet and strained. I stood on shaking legs. My own wounds would heal ont her own. Iwasn;t going to die, I'd just have to feed again later. I dropped my Sookies side and lifted her so her back rested against my knee. "Sook?" I whispered. Her yes were swollen shut.

She tried to mumble something, but I coudln;t make it out. I wondered if she was even conscious, even aware she was dying. I hoped not. I hoped she had fallen unconscious long ago, and dind;t have to feel the pain.

I felt myself, internally, felt th chi I had left. I could still feel some of Jasons int here. But there wasn't much. I could feel my hunger growing now, felt it's painful grip on me. I let out a sigh, looked at Sookie's broken form, and swore. "Fucking damn it." I mumbled. "I've been here two days and I'm pretty much throwing in the towel on the secrecy thing, huh?"

And I let the wall down. I've done it more times tongith then I have in the past five eyars. I never let the walls down. When I et the walls down, someone dies.

Her brothers life force flowed into her. I watched it leave my finger tips. It was absorbed into her body. It felt like I was losing a child, it hurt so bad to watch the chi leave. I started to cry. It was not natural for the hci to leave my body, and thus it hurt. It dind;t sitng anywhere specifically. But it hurt somewhere deep down inside of me. It hurt awfully. I cried for the loss of it.

My eyes started to blacken out. I could see Sookie, see her eyes flutter open as the swelling went down in her face. She stared up at me, eyes wide. They rolled back in her head as the chi entered her. I knew how she felt. She was feeling hwat I felt whenever I fed. It had to be wonderful. I ached to feed. I felt my hunger growing as I gave away the last bits of myself to Sookie, to heal her.

"Alice?" I looked up, th nergy flow remaining. I saw Eric, standin above us. He looked down, watched Sookie heal ,looked to me, eyes wide. "What in gods name are you?"

I smiled. I swayed. I felt to my side and the connection broke between Sookie and i. I felt tiny minicscule flayed strips of chi left inside of me. They cried. I cried. I held onto my stomach, my chest my legs. I hurt everywhere. It was not natural. This felt wrong, so wrong, like I adhn; fed in weeks. I burned.

Eric rushed to my side. His body scanned my own, seeing where I was hurt. He lifted my hsirt, saw the half healed bullet wound, saw the fainst csar of the other on my shouder. "I'm going tohelp you." He was saying, but his voice was faint and I couldn't understand.

I nodded. When in doubt, agree. I smiled. Mom told me that one. "Eric, what's happening?"

"Sookie?" I said, swiveling my eyes around. Her face was still swollen and cut and bruise,d but I knew her lungs were healed, her ribs mended. Her femur was mostly healed, I had felt it mend itself together before I fell to my side. "I'm glad you're okay you crazy bitch."

She looked at me. "I need to take her." Eric said.

"Are we goin on a trip?" I tried to joke, but my eyes closed. I think I was dying. Was this what it felt like to die? Was this what those popele if ed from felt like before I drained them of their chi, of their very souls?

"Shiouldn;t we take her to the hospital?"

Their voices were soft, faint. I was sailing away fromt hem, and it felt nice. I wasn;t as hungry or pained the further I sailed away.

"I don't think docors can heal this."

"Oh, but you can?"

"Don't argue with me now, Sookie."

"Dona;t yell at her." I mumbled. Iw nated to oen my eye,s look at Eric. I felt their chi. I wanted to feed. I couldn't though. I cried, felt satly tears sting my eyes. I'd just saved Sookie. Was I about to just drian her right away afterwards?

"Alice?" that was Eric. I think. I don't remember his voice ever sounding that soft before. "Alice, I'm going to get you help. Stay with me though. Stay with me—"

I fell away, collapsing into the blackness that had been trying to claim me.


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm going to feed you my blood."

"Alice—Alice look at me. Open your eyes."

"Jesus fucking Christ Eric what the fuck is this?"

"Shut the fuck up Pam, get the door!"

"_Fuck_."

"Alice!"

There's an awful metallic taste on my tongue. It's disgusting, I want to move away from it, but I'm stuck, trapped under blackness. I hear voices, but it's so quiet. It's like I'm listening to someone having their own conversation.

Slowly the metallic taste goes away and it tastes sweet. I'm drinking it without knowing what I'm doing. It slides down my throat and I feel it in my veins, feel it coursing through me. It's calming. It's tender. Its—

I'm screaming, sitting up and my eyes snapping open. I don't know where I am. I can't remember what happened. Am I dead? Is this heaven? I sure as hell hoped not. It was a dusty old, crowded office and I was on a red leather couch. This had better not be fucking heaven, or else I had been seriously stiffed.

"Alice?"

I looked to me side. Eric was kneeling next to me. He looked at me awkwardly, his eyes moving over me in impossible speeds. What was he looking for?

"Eric?" I asked, unsure. Yes, it was him. He was still as handsome, as tall, as muscular. His eyes were not black now, his fangs were not extended. He didn't look hungry. He just looked… concerned. "What's going on?"

There's something trailing down my lip and I wipe it away with the back of my hand. It was blood. "Am I—am I bleeding?"

I looked at Eric. I can just start to remember what happened. There had been a couple, and then Sookie, and someone was hurt. I was helping someone, but then _I_ was hurt, and I couldn't stay awake. "Did you give me your blood?" I asked suddenly, feeling it click in my head. I was looking at him hard. He looked at me and shrugged.

"You were dying." He said simply.

"I—well—thank you." I said. He was making me nervous with his generosity. Vampires always wanted something in return. They never did anything for—

My hunger hit my like a freight train. It ripped through my body, tearing me apart. I gasped, laid down on my back and clutched my stomach. "Oh Jesus." I cried. "Oh fuck."

"Alice?" I could see Eric above me. His chi was tantalizing, circling around his head. He stroked my cheek, and his cold hands soothed my burning skin. "What's wrong?"

I'm not sure why it happens, and why I can't control it, but I become the hunter then. It snaps into me, and I am no longer the prey under a vampires gaze, but I'm the predator, looking for a meal.

I sit up slowly, and I'm not Alice anymore, but someone completely different. I ignoring the treacherous pain in my body. His hand falls to his side. He's looking at me. Watching me. Cautious.

I raise my hand and he watches it like it's a weapon as I place it on his cheek. "Eric." I say softly. The look in his eyes is odd when I say his name like that. He looks up at me. He's confused. There's something turning inside of him and I can feel his confusion. His chi tells me things. He's feeling like he's never felt before and it's confusing him. He doesn't like it. He almost killed me earlier. He wants my blood. He wants my body.

I'll let him have my body. I stand up softly, bringing him with me. My hands run gingerly over his chest. His shirt is smooth, and I feel his muscles, so tight, so cold. I rise to my tip toes and link my hands behind his neck, bringing his head down. He can fight me if he really wanted, but he's frozen, eyes wide. He's so confused, like a lost puppy. It makes the monster inside me laugh and growl with hunger.

"I know you want me." I whisper, lips grazing his. "Do you want my body, Eric?"

He's growling deep in his chest, and he doesn't even realize it. I watch, fascinated, as his eyes darken. I feel his chi absorb into me. It's exhilarating. I'm shivering. I close my eyes, sigh into him. When I open them, his lips crash onto mine.

He devours me, arms circling behind my back. He pulls me to him and I curl against him. He pushes me back down onto the couch. I'm breathing heavily smiling sinfully up at him. He smiles down at me. "You're getting yourself into dangerous matters, little girl." He warns.

I sit up. "I like danger." I whisper, licking my lips.

He's on top of me, his mouth everywhere at once. I'm moaning. I'm so hungry. He tastes so good. He pulls my shirt off and I help him. He pulls my bra down, pausing to look at me, take me all in, whispering something in another language, before devouring me. I'm shocked by how exhilarating it feels. I close my eyes, let him work. Fuck. He's good.

I feel his chi around him, feel it moving into me. It's like having sex on its own, just this feeling alone. My hands slip down his chest as he sucks on a sweet spot on my neck. They dip into the front of his pants, rub against his member. He's so… big. I feel anticipation peek in my chest. I want to feed, want to feed on his chi. I'm so hungry. I'm so, so hungry. I rub him and he pauses, fangs extended, looking at me with hunger in his eyes. Still, there's confusion. He's confused.

"Do you want to ravish this body?" I mumble at him. "Do you want to take me, to claim me?"

"Don't speak of things you don't understand." He growls, his tongue coming out to lick my lips. I moan. His hand follows my route and dip into my shorts, cold fingers rubbing against my core. I moan beneath him. He inserts a finger into me, and he sighs. I grab him in my hand and run against the length of him, squeeze, rub against the tip.

I close my eyes, feel his chi flowing, flowing, and entering me. So amazing. So sweet. So calming.

I'm so hungry.

There's a knock on the door and I yelp, coming back into myself. The beast inside is roaring in anger. I'm so hungry but I reel myself back in. I look at Eric. We've both stopped. I could kill him. I would have. I would have drained him and not have been able to stop.

"This is dangerous." I whispered.

I see the blue return to his eyes. His hand pulls out of my shorts, and I release him. I scramble for my shirt and pull it on, fixing my bra. He's watching me. He's on top of me still, using the edge of the sofa to hold himself above me. I glance up at him. I want to feed.

My body tells me it's necessary, there's nothing wrong with it. I can feed off of him, it'll be fine.

But then I feel shame. I look at this calmer side of him and I don't want to hurt him like that. It feels dangerous to start feeling that way again. I used to care about everyone I fed off of. I almost starved to death, almost died an agonizing death, until I forced myself to believe that feeding was natural, it was who I was, and to deny it was cruel to myself. It was like self mutilation.

Eric surprises me by leaning down and capturing my lips in another kiss. His tongue pushes against my mouth. I let him in without thinking, and we wage war over control before another knock sounds.

I gasp back into myself. "Seriously, dude, I can't." I breathe. I sit, placing my hands on his hard chest, pushing against him with no success. He's a rock.

He frowns, but leans back. "This isn't over." He states simply as I stand and fix my hair. "Come in, Pam." Eric calls, and I heard rich anger filling his voice. I tingle with excitement, and I pause. Why did that excite me? I glance at him again. He's another meal, I tell myself. Not anything else besides another meal.

But he's looking at me with those eyes, undressing me like no one else has done before. Maybe I could stay with him, maybe I could control myself…

A woman, Pam I guess, enters, and glances at me with a lazy smile on her lips. "Smells like sex in here." She hums.

"Your boy got a little feisty." I accuse, looking at Eric.

He raises his eyebrows, and stands tall and intimidating. He leans in real close, his breaths across my neck. "As I recall, you're the one who attacked my first." His tongue flicks out, licks across my skin, his breath trailing it and giving me goose bumps. I shiver.

"I truly am sorry to interrupt." Pam says. I hear Eric sigh, maybe growl. Again, I feel excitement. For some reason I love having him want me so bad. I never take joy in the other men going crazy for me. But Eric, I revel in it. "But there is an important call waiting."

"Tell them to wait." Eric says crisply.

"I would, but this is a certain member of the Texas government you might want to talk to right away."

Eric looks over at her, frowning, before straightening up. He glances down at me, smiles, his eyes flash. "I'll be seeing you soon." he says, but it sounds like a warning. "Your- talents- have peaked my interest."

I was going to say something but I rushed out before I could. My hunger spreads. It's hurting and I need to feed so bad.

I stumble into a mess of people. I gasp. There's loud music and people dancing, sweating, moving against each other. There's so much sex in everyone's chi. It's intoxicating. My walls tremble and begin to crumble. I feed off of the nearest person and they taste so sweet. I shiver. They feel so wonderful, so tasty. I bask in their life force and let it wash over me—

I snap into myself again, shaking my head. I'm losing it. I feel awful, living in this sense of no control. I rush from the bar. I run out into the warm night and look around. I can't find anyone or anything. I start running down the streets, not knowing where I am. All I know is that I'm hungry, I'm so terribly hungry and I want to eat.

I don't know how long I run. But soon my muscles scream for me to stop and my lungs ache, but still I run. I hope I can get so tired to not feel the hunger but even through the pain in my muscles I feel it inside of me, begging for me to feed, almost forcing me to search someone out, take them to the ground, drain them—

There's a car pulling up beside me. I stop, startled by the beams. I looked at the tinted windows as they roll down. "Miss? Do you need help?"

It's a mid thirties man. He balding and he's hefty and he's a pig. I smile. His chi is dirty. I smile wider. His eyes linger on my breast, heaving from running, the sweat tickling all over my body, making my skin shine.

My beast wants something pure to eat, someone who has never done a bad deed in their entire life, but I revel in the fact I won't feel guilt over this man's death. "Yes, thank you." I say. I get in the car. I sit in the leather seat and I roll up the window.

"So where are you going?" he asked. His hand audibly shifts from the gears to the side of my legs. His fingers brush the bare skin there, at the bottom of my shorts.

"Home." I said, watching him intently.

"Alone?"

"Not anymore."

He smirks. He's sweaty. He's wearing a suit and an untied tie. I reach out and I'm not gentle when I grab his bare, flabby neck. "What the—"

He doesn't get to finish. I drain him, kill him, in less than ten seconds. The rate at which I feed off of him is exhilarating. It runs through my body at inaudible speeds. I can't think, all I know is my hunger is quenched for a moment.

I release him, and his eyes are dull as he falls back into his seat. He's dead. I've killed him. I don't know this man, don't know what he is capable of, but I killed him and I feel nothing about it.

I get out of the car.

I stand in the warm night and I stretch.

******************E**********

"I know, Godric." Eric sighs into the phone. "I'm sorry I concerned you. Everything is under control, however."

"You emotions were uncontrolled, Eric." Godric continued. Eric pinched the bridge of his nose. "Never in a thousand years have I felt you lose control like that."

Eric shakes his head. His maker is relentless. He used to love that, but only when it was used against someone else. It sucked when it was used on him. "I had a moment of weakness."

"No, it was more than that." Godric muses. "I think I'll come up."

Eric sits up straighter. "Godric, that is completely unnecessary."

"No, no I think I might know what's happening—I just want to make sure."

"Godric, please, you have matters to attend to in Texas—"

"Eric, are you telling me what my duties are?" he asks. Eric shuts up. "I thought not. I'll be up by the end of next week. Good bye, my child."

The line goes dead and Eric slowly places the phone down on his desk.

He rubs his temples with his cool fingers. What else could go wrong? He knew he should be concerned, scared of Godric's arrival. He was his maker, and of course he loved him, but for Godric to feel the need to come see Eric after so many years should be a matter of concern.

But all he could see was that damn humans face. Although—she wasn't human. He saw her in the parking lot, saw her with Sookie. All she did was touch Sookie's face, and the blonde woman healed. Right in front of his eyes. Eric had thought only vampire blood had powers such as that.

An then the redneck… all she did was touch _his_ cheek and his eyes dulled, disappeared, and he was dead. She gave and took life like it was her power to wield. And she had been shot. He saw her rush past his car, not sure what was happening. He followed in an instant when he heard the gun shots. He saw her walking forward, smelt her blood, and nearly lost control if it had not been for the overwhelming anger he felt at the dick head red neck hurting her. It had startled him, the amount of possession he felt over her. The man shot her again. In the side. She walked on though. She killed him.

His dead heart ached as he remembered her tears. Falling, dripping down her cheeks, landing on the ground. The sound seemed deafening to him in the quiet night. He wanted to grab her, carry her away, hold her until she stopped crying…

He stood from his desk in a swift movement, and with a stroke of his arm threw everything from his desk. It landed against the walls and onto the floor. His lamp shattered. He broke off a piece of the wood on the corner of the desk. Why? Why did he feel this way? The Viking stood, taking in quick unnecessary breathes. All he could see was Alice's face. All he could hear was her heart beat. All he wanted was her, writhing beneath him, her blood rolling across his tongue. But more than that. He wanted her forever, wanted those images to happen every night, wanted her by his side. He ached for it. He ached for her.

He collapsed back into his chair, holding his head in his hands, a Viking prince confused further than he's ever been in his life.

All because of a mortal.

Fuck.

He thought about her in here, just a few moments ago. Kissing her, running his tongue across her skin, tasting her like that. She was sweet and salty and beautiful and gentle. He groaned thinking about it. He had wanted her. Had been furious at Pam for interrupting.

But then he noticed the way she snapped into another state. He had looked at her carefully, watched her entire demeanor change. It was as if she were like them. A vampire. A predator. When Eric hunted like that, he was no longer Eric, but a monster. Eric was left in wonderment thinking of her in her hunting form. Beautiful.

He shook his head. That should not be his main priority. He wanted to know what she was, if she wasn't human. What he had seen in that parking lot had—stunned him.

She was amazing. Beautiful. Spectacular.

She was… his. He nodded his head. He decided he was fascinated with this power of hers, and nothing more. Once he figured her out, had tasted her, he'd throw her aside like every other girl, like he had planned with Sookie. He smiled. But in a place he refused to acknowledge had come to life, he knew this wasn't going to be the way it played out.

*********A*********

I kissed him roughly on the mouth, taking his chi with me as I broke away. I was in his lap, my legs around his waist, his growing member buried inside of me. I grunted, rotating my hips, letting him hit my G-spot. He mumbled something into my neck, I couldn't make out what it was. The contact against him drove me wild.

He pushed me off of him, and I smiled as he turned me around. I rose to my knees and grabbed onto the head board as he dove back into me. I gasped. His hips smacked into me, hitting into me hard and relentlessly. I was gasping, I was close. I grabbed onto my breast, held it in my hand and moaned into the room. "I..I…I'm.. I'm close…"

"Just stay right there." Her grunted. "Right there. Right there. Right there."

I exploded and saw stars, letting his chi come into contact with me. I was feeling full. This was the fifth time tonight. I had to feed him back his own chi just to keep him going. He pulled out of me. I felt his chi stressed, and turned around to him. I smiled and licked my lips, my legs trembling from the orgasm. I gently pushed him onto his back and lowered my face over his member. I grabbed onto it with my hands. It was slick with my juices. My tongue dashed out, sliding across the tip, and he moaned.

I sheathed it in my mouth then, sucking it into the back of my throat until my lips touched his balls. I moaned against him. The noise vibrated against his cock and he thrust up into me. My head bobbed against him, hands twisting against his hard member. "Oh baby." He moaned. "Oh yea. Yea. Oh—oh—Oh—_OH_!"

I pulled away as he came, watching his pleasure come. I felt it through this chi, his orgasm, and it made him taste sweeter. If he chi hadn't tasted so good wrapped in his orgasm, I would have left him in need rather than finish him off like that. I was breathing heavy as I held onto the side of his face. "Thanks." I said heavily. I stood up.

"What?" he sat up, looking at me. "Where are you going?"

"Home." I said blandly. I was full. I wasn't hungry. And sexually, he had done a bang up job. I just wanted sleep at this point

"You can stay." He said desperately. "Just for the night."

I smiled at him as I pulled my panties on. "No, it's okay Jerry. You know what I'd really like though?"

I walked up close to him, finger tips dancing over his steadily hardening cock. "Hm?" he hummed closing his eyes.

"I'd love if you'd buy me a cab."

His eyes opened and he smiled at me. "I'd love to."

I dressed as he called one, and by the time he started crying, begging for me to stay, the car was downstairs. I said goodbye, and rushed out of there. The driver glanced at the gun holes in my shirt, but said nothing.

"Where to?" he asked.

"Bon Temps please."

He took off, and while I watched the city run away through the window, I wondered if Eric was serious when he said he'd come back. I hated how I hoped he was.

Sookie wasn't in for her lunch shift the next day. When I asked Sam, he told me she had taken the day off. He'd called me into his office soon after I had asked, though.

He waved a hand to the seat in front of his desk, and I sat awkwardly. It was the end of the shift, and I wanted to seek out Sookie's house, see if I had healed her enough. "What the hell happened last night?" Sam said. He was pacing behind his desk, his awful, mutated chi bristling. I wondered what he was… "The cops came and found the dead body of Mack Rattray in the parking lot! And you and Sookie were gone but there was a shit tone of blood that wasn't Mack's, and bullet casings. You told me to stay inside, that you'd handle it, and now I have a dead body on my hands because I trusted you."

I bit my lip. "Sam, I'm sorry." I said, and really I was. "I didn't think about the . . . clean up. I shouldn't have had you go through it blindly."

He shook his head, holding his elbow with his other hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. He sighed deeply. "Tell me what the fuck is going on."

"What—what'd you tell the cops?" I asked cautiously, averting his question.

He glanced at me, frowning deeply. "I said that there had been a vamp in here earlier and had probably drained him." He saw my face, the question I was aching to ask. "I didn't tell them anything about you or Sookie."

I let out a long breathe. "Sam, you have no idea how much I—"

"I don't care." He groaned. "Just tell me why I lied to the god damn cops!"

I bit my lip hard, almost drawing blood. "You know about Sookie's . . . _talent_?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Are you telling me Sookie killed this guy?"

I shook my head quickly. "No, no not at all. But him and his—wife, I think, or girlfriend or skanky friend, whatever—they were in her section earlier in the night and she . . . heard them."

"Heard them? Jesus could you be any more cryptic?"

I shrugged. "I could if you wanted me to, but that wouldn't help anything…" I trailed off when I saw he wasn't even fighting a smirk. "Okay, you're right, this is serious. She heard them _thinking_ about draining that vampire that was in here earlier."

Sam's eyes hardened. "And she went out to stop them, didn't she?"

I nodded, looking at the floor.

"Why in god's name didn't you stop her?" he accused.

I looked up at him, my own spark of anger and a need to defend myself rising. "You don't think I tried? Do I look like the type of person who'd let a stupid blonde chase after vamp drainers? Jesus, Sam."

He kept his hard gaze for a moment longer before sighing. He dropped his shoulders and sat back into his seat. "I'm sorry." He sighed. "Go on."

I mumbled something under my breath, which he heard by the sharp look he gave me. "So I chased after her, after telling you to stay inside. I didn't want you getting hurt, too."

"Like you would be more likely to protect Sookie?" he accused.

I gave him a look. "Yes, I could." He stared me down. He didn't know what I could do, was only judging me from my skinny arms and petite form. If he knew, he'd never judge me again. "Anyways, she was getting beat the fuck up in the parking lot by that couple."

"The Rattrays?" he asked, eyes widening.

"What other couple was there?" I snapped. "Just sit there and shut the fuck up, Sam, or I'm not telling you. Jesus Christ you're so annoying. Anyways, they were pretty much killing her. So then Mack or whatever his name was tried shooting me when I came to him, then that vampire showed up out of nowhere and killed the guy and then healed Sookie."

I smiled. Good lie, Alice. Well done.

"No bite marks were found on his body." Sam said, eyeing me.

I shrugged. "Maybe he snapped his neck?"

"No sign of neck trauma. Or any trauma of any kind. No bruises, except for a distinct one on his cheek."

"Then he probably hit him."

"No blunt force trauma."

"Whatever, Sam!" I cried. "He's dead, Sookie's alive. That's all she wrote."

He looked at me from behind his deck, eyeing me. I felt like I needed to scurry away and hide. "Thank you." He said finally. I glanced at him, surprised.

"Excuse me?"

"I don't know what you did, or how you did it. But thank you for saving Sookie."

I looked at him cautiously for a moment. Was he going to tell someone? Was he going to fire me?

"Okay." I said quietly.

Sam smiled. "Quit squirming. Your secret, whatever that may be, is safe with me. Go home. Get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow for the dinner shift."

I breathed out and smiled. "Thank you so much, Sam."

I rushed out of there, breathing heavy. I was throwing my apron into the backseat and driving out of there, heading to Sookie's, before I could blink.

How many freaking people were going to know what I was here? It's been three days since I've been here, and I've killed two guys, saved a telepath, caught the attention of a vampire and now even my inhuman boss knows something it up with me. Should I leave?

Sookie's house was tall and ancient, running against the side of a cemetery. I pulled into the driveway, behind her own car, and turned the engine down. Bugs sang in her yard and the heat hit me hard as I walked up to her porch. It was old, but quaint and I found myself smiling. I began thinking that if I were to buy a house, I'd want a porch like this. I'd like to have a swing, just like that one.

Before I could even knock, Sookie was pulling the door open. I froze, and looked at her. She must have heard me, my mind I mean, when I walked up. I wondered how she'd react. Would she slap me, or run screaming, or fall into shock? She stood in the doorway, staring at me with wide innocent eyes.

And then she charged me. I stood still, waiting to accept her hit, but it never came. Instead she rushed at me and pulled me into a lung crushing hug. I took a step back, startled. My eyes were wide and staring. Awkwardly, I reached my arms around her, and patted her back. "Sook?" I asked, careful.

She pulled back, and tears stained her cheeks. "Thank you so much." She gasped, lips trembling.

"Oh. Oh god, don't cry." I begged.

She grabbed onto my hands and pulled my inside. Completely shaken, I was a puppet in her hands. The inside of her house was old, matching the outside. It smelled of dust and age. "Nice house." I said, quietly.

She giggled and pulled me into the kitchen. I took a seat at a worn table while she bustled around, making tea. "I have so much I want to ask you." Sookie threw over her shoulder me.

I sighed, but knew this was going to happen, so I was prepared. "How are you feeling?"

"Fantastic." She breathed. I knew she wasn't lying. Her chi was practically humming with life. And her skin was flawless. Odd. I remembered leaving her with a slightly fractured femur and plenty of cuts and bruises. But she was walking fine now and she looked as if she'd never suffered from as little as a pimple in her entire life. "When Eric took you, I was left in the parking lot. I made it to my car fine, but my leg was still hurting, I could barely walk. But then that thing you did to me, I think it still lingered inside of me and even though you weren't touching me, I continued to heal."

I stared at her, concerned by this. "And you're completely fine now?"

"Mhmm." She hummed, racing over to me with two hot mugs in her hands. I thanked for mine. "In fact, I feel better than I have in a long time. It's like, even though I'm healed, whatever you did to me was still working on me. I feel energized and healthy and my telepathy has been through he roof. I can hear voices all the way across town."

I frowned. "That sounds awful." I muttered.

She smiled wider. "That's the thing though! I'm stronger than I've ever been and I can completely block them out of my mind at will!"

I sat back in my seat, playing with the tea packet hanging over the side of the mug. "Have you told anyone?" I asked carefully.

"Of course not." She breathed. "I'd never."

I looked up at her, and offered her a small smile. "Good. You can never tell anyone, not even your vampire boyfriend or your brother or anyone. Ever. I've never given my chi away to anyone before, and I didn't know it could have this—effect—on someone."

"Your chi?" Sookie asked, head titled to the side. "Is that what you gave me?"

I sighed, but nodded. I owed her an explanation, I knew this, but I'd never done it before, never told anyone outright. It felt odd, even though it was my own secret to tell. "It's life force." I explained quietly. "Everyone has it. I feed off of it."

Sookie was quiet for a moment. "Feed? You mean, the chi you gave me wasn't your own?"

I bit my lip and shook my head. "No. I don't know if I have my own life force." I refused to show her how much this thought scared me. "But I see everyone else's. I can taste it in the air, moving and turning and breathing into me. Life forces are drawn to me, Sookie, as if their entire point in life is to belong to me, for me to take it."

"I—I think I remember Mack." Sookie said, scrunching up her eyes. "You touched him, and he fell. Was that you? Were you feeding?"

I nodded slowly. "He was hurting you, Sook."

She cringed. "I remember." She paused for a moment. "Thank you. For saving me."

I smiled. "Any time."

"So why'd _you_ collapse like that then?" she asked, continuing her barrage of questions. "After you healed me, you just passed out and Eric had to take you away."

I shrugged. "I gave you all the chi I had. I was empty."

She glanced at me with sad eyes. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Alice. I'd never have asked you to do that for me—"

"I know." I said softly, smiling. "That's why I did it."

She paused for a moment and sipped on her tea. "How are you here now, then? If you'd given me all your chi, how're you alive?"

"I fed."

"Is it like a vampire?" she asked innocently, and I smiled.

"No, not like a vampire. No biting or blood involved. Just skin contact."

"Oh." She said quietly. "Do you—I mean, can you control it? Or is it like Mack every time you feed?"

She blushed furiously from her question, and I smiled sadly. "At first it was." I said quietly, holding the mug in my hands, letting its heat burn my fingers. The scar on my abdomen burned in memory, bitter to the taste. My moms face came to mind, when she was faced with the monster in me, the look in her eyes as she recognized me as something inhuman, no longer her own daughter. "But I'm better, I can control it. Unless I'm hungry, starving."

"So—so yesterday did you—you know?"

I nodded.

She was quiet for a long time. "You kill people?" she asked, breathless.

I looked up at her, and felt oddly hurt by the accusations in her eyes. "You don't know what it's like." I said awkwardly. "All you do is read minds. You can do it without a seconds thought. It's like breathing to you, and there are no strings attached. But I live off of others chi's. I can take medicines, eat healthy, drink plenty of fluids and do anything a human can to be healthy, but I'd die. What I need is chi. I'd die without it."

"But you don't have to kill people." Sookie breathed. She was so sweet, I could feel her chi breaking over those souls I had killed.

"Last night, Sook, I was empty." I said, explaining slowly. "I had nothing inside of me. The last of my chi was given to you and I was hungry. It hurt so bad. It hurt me deep, deep down inside of me, worse than anything else. I can't control it then. I'm an animal."

She looked unsure. "I understand." She lied.

I shook my head. "No, you don't. But I don't care. I've accepted it a long time ago, even if you haven't for yourself."

She looked at me for a moment, her lip trembled, and she looked down.

"How do you do it? Feed, I mean?" she asked to her shoes.

I smiled. She was so curious. "I told you. I touch their skin, and their chi flows into me. It's easy. There is no effort involved on my part. The chi wants to be with me. I let it."

"Does it taste good?" she mused.

I sighed. Her questions were getting annoying. "Yea, sometimes. Mack's tasted bad last night. You taste very good, however, probably because you're not human."

She blushed. I smiled. Too innocent. "It's best with sex, though, easiest to feed from." I commented, watching her blush deepen. This was suddenly fun. "When a man orgasms, it rushes into me, makes me climax, and it's exhilarating. It's the best thing you could have ever felt."

"It's getting late." She said quickly, looking out the window over her sink, at the black sky. I frowned.

I pushed my chair back and stood. "Remember, tell no one, Sookie." I said. She was till blushing when she looked up at me, but nodded solidly.

"Thanks, again, Alice." She said.

"Really, no problem." I lied. It had actually been a huge problem. I almost killed a vampire, and ended up killing a pervert and having sex with a random stranger in his apartment, though the latter was not uncommon on my part.

I left her house then, and drove home quietly, with the windows rolled down and the warm heat of the night air rushing in at me.

I live in a small condo, owned by Sam. That's how I got the job for him, actually. He mentioned his bar when I was signing the lease forms, and one thing led to another and I landed an interview. It was a nice place. With the few things I owned, I made it home.

And home was being occupied by a damn sexy car in the driveway.

I pulled up in front of my place and got out cautiously. Unless I forgot buying a Ferrari, then I had a visitor. I walked slowly up to my house, eyeing the car. Up the porch steps and to the door. A hand grabbed my shoulder and I turned around, fists flying.

Eric caught my hand before I could hit him. He was smiling. "Hello, lover." He breathed.

"Lover? Oh, god no." I pulled my wrist from his hand and turned back to the door, fingering the keys, trying to find the one to unlock it.

I felt Eric's chi stiffen, and I turned around, surprised by the fury I felt. What had I done know? His eyes were icy when he stared down at me. "You were with another man." He stated. Not a question, but an accusation.

"Yeah?" Why'd that matter to him at all?

He leaned in close, pinning me against my door. My breath caught in my throat. I was motionless as he breathed against my shoulder, across my chest behind my ear. I shivered. "Your body belongs to me." He whispered, biting the lobe of my ear.

I shoved at his chest, but he was immovable. "It so does not, Eric." I hissed. "I own my body. Jesus back _off_!"

He straightened, but didn't move. The ice remained in his eyes, but a cocky grin was stuck to his face. "Once you have me, you'll never want another man." He promises.

"Oh yea?" I argue. "I doubt it."

He smiles, taking the challenge. My heart skips a beat. Secretly, I'm glad he took the challenge. Outwardly, I'm scared shitless.

"Did this _man_ last night make you scream his name?" he hummed, trailing a cold finger across my collar bone. "Did he fill you so completely you felt you could burst? Did you think of him the moment he left you empty, begged for his cock to fill you?"

I slapped his hand away. "Don't speak like that to me, Eric." I hissed.

He smiled, fangs clicked out. I had turned him on, if the tent in his pants told me right, and I had no idea what I'd even done. I slapped him around a few times, that was all.

And god damn it my body rumbled with hunger. I growled. I had fed last night! I'd fed until I hurt I was so full. But him standing in front me, talking to me like that, undressing me with his eyes, made me ache with hunger.

I smiled, hiding the burn inside. "You know," I said, stepping closer to him. He looked down at me, matching my hunger. I ran my hands up his broad chest, over his shoulders. I breathed him in. His chi, oh god it tasted so good. I trembled from the taste of it. "He took me on his counter, first." I hummed.

I felt his chest growl. I smiled. "And then we moved to the bedroom. I was on top of him. I made him cry out my name."

His chest was rumbling, my finger tips were dancing over his neck, his face. I smiled up at him, the anger forming in his eyes. "He made me cum all over him, made me scream."

He shoved me back against the door. Eyes wide, I stared up at him, but he was attacking me before I could breath. Lips sucked on my mine, tongue pushing for access. I opened my mouth, breathed into him, and fought him for control. He tasted so sweet. He took both my hands in one of his large ones and pinned them above my head. He released my mouth, leaving me panting. His lips trialed down my neck, fangs scraping over the skin lightly. I gasped. He felt so good, I wanted him, craved him.

"You're never going to scream for another man again." He warned. I moaned. His hand tugged at the hem of my shirt before his hands slipped up underneath the shirt, over the smooth skin of my stomach, up and up, until he cupped my covered breasts. Fingers teased my nipples, making me squirm. "You're only ever going to beg for me, for my cock to fill you, for my touch on your skin."

His hand moves back down my stomach and unbuttoned my work shorts. I seem to always be wearing them when he takes me like this.

I should stop him, push him back , go back inside. But he feels so nice, his chi tastes amazing, so beautiful. He fingers dance over my clit, making me gasp. My eyes flash open, and he's staring at me, eyes black. He's so beautiful. He glows in the night sky. I ache for him. He enters me with one finger, slowly, achingly slow, and I cry out for him.

"Eric!" I moan.

He smiles. "Do you want me, Alice?" he breaths, face leaning into my neck. He nibbles on the tender skin, making me moan. "Beg for me, lover."

"Eric." I plead. "Please."

He uses another finger, then another, and begins pumping into me while his thumb circles my clit. I gasp and writhe beneath him, sweat tingling my skin. He feels so good, makes me feel amazing. "Cum, lover." He says into my neck. "Scream my name."

"Eric—I'm—you're—oh, oh, OH!" I'm so close, I can feel the tension building in my lower stomach. 'I'm so close. So close." I breathe into him. I feel his fangs against my skin and I feel an overwhelming urge for him to bite me, to feed off of me like I do to him.

I explode around his fingers, core tightening around him. I cry out his name.

Eric breaths me in and I feel his fangs clearer than ever. "Mine." Eric sighs against me, fingers pumping, riding through my orgasm. "_Mine_."

With a growl that erupts through his chest and into mine, he sinks his fangs into my neck, marking me as his.

I jolt awake, falling from my bed and onto the floor with a hard thud. I sit up quickly and look around. I wasn't on my porch, Eric wasn't with me. I felt along my neck, but there was no bite wound. I let out a sigh.

I could barely remember driving home from Sookie's and curling up on my bed with a book, falling asleep slowly. I stood up on shaky legs. I'd heard vampire blood could make you horny, but having dreams about _Eric_? Jesus.

Warm light streamed into the house, warming me. I quickly grabbed a towel and headed to the bathroom in need of a warm shower. Inwardly, I still felt Eric's fingers and it made me ache with need.

**********E**************

He awoke instantly, as he did every night, but he had an erection that ached. She'd dreamed about him, he felt her need while he rested, felt her ache for him. He moaned, wondering what she had imagined him doing to her, knowing eventually it would come true.

He stood up quickly, glancing at the time. She'd be at work. He was guilty of checking out her work schedule the other night, and now he knew what she was working this entire week. He stood from his bed, naked, wanting to go to her but knowing it was useless to go while she worked.

He rushed into his bathroom and ran the water. He had dreamed of her, as well. Of her hands and her voice, calling for him, coming around him, sweating and smiling.

He moaned and moved under the warm water.

She had glanced up at him with hooded eyes and in that soft voice of hers had begged him to fill her. He grabbed onto his aching member and began to slowly pump, imaging her hand instead of his, kneeling in front of him, burning with the need to pleasure him.

He saw her smile, wrap her beautiful mouth around his cock, licking and sucking at it. Eric grabbed onto the shower wall for support, pumping at his member fast, and faster, feeling a tightening in his stomach. Alice would be gleeful, he saw, as she watched him moan. He'd grab onto her hair in his fist gently, moving her against him in a perfect rhythm

"Alice!" he growled, coming with a heavy sigh. He saw her swallow his load, lick her lips, and rise to her feet, ready to service him.

He opened his eyes in the shower and growled. He'd just masturbated, alone, in a shower. He hadn't had to masturbate in over a century.

What in hells name was this girl doing to him?


	3. Chapter 3

"Welcome to Merlotte's, can I get you anything to drink?"

I stood in front of a vamp, short with dark brown hair and equally dark eyes. He seemed brooding, a cliché to all vampires. It made me want to smile. "I thought this was Sookie's section?" the vampire commented, looking around, not giving me much thought.

"You know Sookie?"

The vampire looked up at me. "I'm her boyfriend."

"Oh, _you're_ Bill!" I said, delighted. I was in a good mood tonight. I couldn't place why, but I was. It'd been a week since I'd seen Eric. The dreams kept coming at me, but other than that my life was quiet and calm. I liked it. I liked this town.

He nodded his head once, before he caught my scent. His nostrils flared and his gaze hardened on me. "What are you?" he breathed.

"Oh, I bet you say that to all the ladies." I gushed, fanning myself with the notepad for fun. He didn't think it was funny though, didn't even crack a smile. "I can definitely see what Sookie saw in you." I mumbled to myself, but knowing he could hear. "She got real busy tonight, so I took some of her tables. She's in the back, I'll tell her you're here."

I turned to leave, but cold fingers gripped my wrist. My heart caught in my throat and for some odd, unexplainable reason, fear itched my gut. I turned back to him, to his dull eyes. There was a long second when we just glanced at each other. He didn't say anything, I squirmed in the silence. But he—he was hungry. I saw it in his eyes, tasted it in his chi as it flowed through his grip on my wrist.

And then he caught a hold of himself. He blinked once, twice, before I saw him realize what he was doing. He released me quickly, pulling his hand to his lap. "I'm- I'm sorry." He said. I heard shame lining his voice.

I held my wrist to my chest, massaging the bruises with my other hand. "It's okay." I lied. "I'll get Sookie."

I rushed through the tables, taking empty cups and plates as I moved, and found Sookie blushing. She was talking to Lafayette, though, and that explained everything. "Bill's here." I said hotly.

"Oh—okay." She took a step away, and then paused. "Are you okay?"

I opened my mouth to lie, to say I was fine, but before I could her chi clouded in anger. "What a prick!" she exclaimed. Surprised, I glanced to Lafayette, but he shrugged. "I can't believe he did that to you, I am so sorry."

With that, she rushed off, hackles raised. I got it then. She read my mind. I felt oddly uncomfortable with that. She was too sweet, too innocent, to see some of the things I thought. What if she caught me in a moment of horrific reminiscence? I may not act like it, but I was prone to my moments of crushing depression, reliving every murder, every self hating thought. What if I remembered my teenage years, when it was worst, with my mom— I didn't want Sookie to live through that with me. No one should.

I was taken aback by the tender feelings of protection I felt. I'd known her a little over a week and I'd saved her life. I smiled. It felt nice, caring whether or not someone died. It'd been a long time since I felt that.

The rest of the night, I was oddly upset, unsettling memories coming back up. I smashed them down by focusing on my customers, on their chi's, feeding greedily to forget my own woes. It was a long, busy night. I had too many people, and my feet were hurting by the time I got off. Bill had left a while ago, his head bent. I could hear Sookie yelling at him all of the way from the kitchen. Lafayette and I couldn't stop laughing.

Home was quiet. I wandered around the living room, turning on lights and pulling my shoes off. It was late at night, and I was exhausted. I fell onto the couch, covering my eyes with my arm, and sighed. "Long night?"

I yelped and sat up quickly. Eric stood outside the screen door, smiling wickedly at me. My heart was racing, he'd scared me so bad. I glanced around me, and felt the sofa and myself. I had to make sure this wasn't a dream, another one of those crazy, crazy dreams.

But I was real. Everything was real and Eric was seriously standing outside my door. "Checking to make sure I'm not here on the sole mission to ravish your body?" he mused. When I looked back at him, his fangs were extended, and he leaned casually against the frame of the door. "Care to invite me in?"

"No way." I said, pushing myself back so I was sitting up. "I don't have a death wish."

"Do I look like I'd harm you?" he joked, flashing his fangs in the moonlight as he did so.

I shook my head and wrapped my arms around my stomach. "How'd you find where I live?"

He shrugged. "I asked a few people." He ended it at that and I sighed, knowing he'd say no more. I watched his energy move around him. It was encasing him, moving in elegant patterns. "Let me in." Eric said suddenly.

I looked back up at him, startled by the way his voice dipped into seriousness. "Hm?"

His eyes were hard, staring into me. I was mesmerized by the way his chi shifted. It cackled and spread. It lifted from his body and snaked through the air like a mist. I watched it come to me, wrap itself around me. I was looking at it, watching it with wide eyes. "Invite me in." Eric demanded.

"Woah." I breathed. I felt the pull of his chi on my mind, felt an urge to invite him into the house. But I was superior here. His own energy could not outwit mine. I was, after all, the one who controlled it all.

I glanced up at Eric, and smirked. "I think you should slap yourself in the face." I said.

I danced across his chi, played with it. It was already so close to me, around me, touching me. All I had to do was whisper to it and mold it.

His chi snapped back into his body, relaying my message, and with one swift vampire movement, he slapped himself clean across the face. He gasped.

I broke into laughter, holding onto my abs, it hurt so much to laugh this hard. Until I heard Eric. He snarled, not like an angry man, but like an animal. When I looked up, his eyes were furious. "Let me in." he demanded, hands resting on either side of the door.

I crossed my legs. I had stopped laughing, but I couldn't hold back my smile. "Nope, I don't think I will."

He fumed at the doorway. "You do not want to make an enemy of me, Alice." He warned.

I felt a chill run through my body. He was being serious, and I took his threat to heart. But then again, I had lived a long life. We all had to die sometime, right? "What are you here for, exactly?"

His face was stony. "I came to talk to you."

"Oh, to talk? Sounds pleasant."

He gave me a small smirk. "I wish to employ your services." He said after a while.

I lifted on eyebrow at him. "My services? Ah, you'd be referring to that little quirk I did in the parking lot, huh? Well, that was a onetime thing. Sort of like when a mother lifts a car to save her child. Nothing special."

Eric actually laughed. I shrugged. I knew it was stupid. Didn't really give a fuck about it. "Alice, honestly. I'd need you to work for me, when I wanted, for however long I wanted. You'd be ready when I called."

I held my hands to my chest. "Oh my god, I've always wanted to be a vampire's bitch! No thanks, Eric."

He leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms over his chest. I remembered a dream when he stood like that. I had invited him in, he took me on the couch, bit me, and I woke up. I felt tingly, remembering it. Warm.

Eric smirked, giving me a shit eating grin, like he knew what I was thinking about. I shifted, suddenly uncomfortable. "Go away, I want to go to bed." I snapped at him turning away.

"Invite me in and we can get this done and over with." Eric suggested quickly.

"Fuck off."

"That's not very proper language for a lady."

"Go _away_!"

He stood there, and I caught onto the idea he'd be there all night if he had to. I felt the heaviness in my eyes. I wanted to sleep. I had the lunch shift tomorrow and it was already two in the morning. I had to sleep but friggen Eric wasn't going to leave.

"What would you need me to do, if I were to work for you?" I said, sighing.

I could feel his chi shift, practically could imagine him smiling without looking. "Just a few things. Mostly I want to see what you're capable of."

"Doesn't sound interesting." I mumbled. "I'll pass."

He sighed, and I glanced over at him. "I'm sorry to say it, but you've caught the attention of the vampire community, and once that happens, you can't ever leave. I suggest you get on my side, before someone else much less generous comes and snatches you away."

I could hear the threat clearly in his voice and I shivered. "I don't want to be on your beck and call." I said hotly.

"That sucks, doesn't it?"

God, he was such a dick! I bit on my finger nail. "And if I say no?"

"Then we're going to have a very big problem, aren't we?"

It was funny, having this conversation with him while he stood right there, on the outside of my house, the screen door between us. I smirked, and stood to my feet, marching over to him. He straightened, surprised by my forwardness. "Eric," I said softly, staring up at him through the screen. "Go fuck yourself."

I slammed the door shut in his face and locked it quickly. I stared at the door, unmoving, heart beating quickly. Had I just made a stupid, stupid mistake?

Jesus.

**************E************

Eric flew outside her window. She'd tried to sleep with it closed, but it was too hot, and finally, in a sleeping daze, she had risen half naked from her bed and threw it open. A light breeze ran through her room, moving the curtains for Eric to see her.

She was moving restlessly, having a nightmare. He wanted to go in there, touch her skin. He wanted to rub the lines out from between her eyes, sooth her tight muscles. She tossed the sheets off of her and turned around, facing him. Her lips were moving, fingers held in tight fists. He wondered what she dreamt of, what made her that tense. She moaned something he couldn't' make out, and curled into herself, clutching at her abdomen as if a great pain had struck her.

Tonight had not gone as he had planned. He'd planned to seduce her, make her work for him, and have sex with her to get her off of his thoughts. That's how it worked, right? Indulge what you wanted most to get it out of your head? That's how it worked for Eric, anyways.

Instead he ended up slapping himself in the face and having a door slammed on him. Never, in a thousand years, had he been so shocked. And then so angry. A human had just shut the door in his face. A _mortal_.

He wanted to burn the house down and force her outside, make her realize he was the vampire, he was the Viking, and she was never to treat him like that ever again. He'd been lenient with her, let her go about unclaimed, and this was how she repaid him?

But then she had sighed behind the door, and he could image her breath slipping over his skin, and it calmed him faster than anything had before. It scared him to no ends.

He wondered how far her talents could be taken. She's healed herself, healed Sookie, and forced a 1000 year old vampire to hit himself. She was fantastic. Powerful. Yet scared, he saw that as she tossed around in her sleep, barely covered by a long, ratted t-shirt and a pair of panties.

She was beautiful, the way the moonlight draped itself over her soft skin. Her hair, brunette, looked so soft. Her lips opened, he imaged for him. He wanted to run his fingers along them, feel her breath on his dead skin. He caught sight of a ragged scar on her skin, where she had clutched at it earlier. Curiosity spiked more than ever. She could heal, yet she had left a scar on her body? For what reason? He ached for her, more than anyone else. He wanted her, yet he was trapped out here, out of her house. She was the powerful in this situation, controlling it all, and that infuriated him.

She was going to be the death of him, he mused, as she slept restlessly through the night. He watched her until the sun began to rise, and even then he was hesitant to leave her to herself.

*************A**************

I came home before work, loaded with groceries. I'd been living off of saltine crackers for over a week and considering I was getting sick of them—and you never, ever get sick of saltine crackers—I figured I'd buy something else. Mostly it was ice cream. It was dangerous to be in an ice cream kind of mood for a girl, but hey, I had a rough night. After Eric left, I dreamt of killing. Of being killed

I don't know what it was with me a reliving awful memories lately. But I couldn't stop it. I saw the boys from when I was a teenager, lost in lust, but awoken from it by the wide eyed dead look of an innocent boy. I saw men who'd tried to take advantage of me cry out as I killed them. I saw myself mad with hunger, killing relentlessly and without remorse. I saw my mom, saw a burning house and me, running away with my mom's car.

I shivered as I put my things away in the small kitchen. My voice machine beeped, and I noticed the blinking light for the first time. One new message, it read.

Carefully, I let it play, knowing who it was.

_Alice, this is Pam. I interrupted you an Eric during your throws of passion the other night. He has summoned you to Fangtasia tonight, and if I were you and I wanted to live another night, I'd come. He was not all too pleased by your actions last night, however amusing they were. Be here by six. It'll be interesting to meet you again._

I groaned and rubbed my temples. I knew he wouldn't just let my indiscretion go. I'd slammed a god damn door in his stupid face. He was an arrogant shit head, and he could not let it slide. Whatever. Now I had to decide whether or not I'd actually go. If I went, he'd know I'm scared of him, and that gave him power. If I didn't, I was basically begging to get hurt. The asshole knew the predicament he was putting me in, too. Jerk.

I took a quick shower and put my work uniform on. I was working with Sookie today, who seemed to always be working, and I found myself waiting to confide in her. It felt nice, being able to go to someone, to have someone I can talk to.

I parked next to Sookie in the lot when I arrived, and found her sitting at the bar, idly twirling a strand of hair around her finger. I paused, zoning in on fresh bite marks on her neck. "Oh, Sook, your neck." I said softly, coming to a stop beside her.

She looked up at me, shocked. "What—what's wrong with my neck?" Her fingers rose and touched the puncture wounds, then sighed. "Oh, yea, I was with Bill last night."

"Do you—do you want me to heal them?" I asked cautiously.

She smiled at me. "That's so nice, Alice. But I like them. They make me feel owned."

I frowned. "Owned? You like the idea of being owned?"

"I like the idea of being wanted." She corrected. "And not just _desired_, but wanted. I've worked here a long time, and when people look at me, I'm desired by every man. But with Bill, he wants me. He wants to spend time with me, and love me, and make me feel good. It feels better than anything else, Alice."

I kept silent as she twirled her hair and her eyes drifted off, a soft smile playing on her lips. I could never image being owned like that, parading bite marks on my neck like a badge of honor. I'd stab Eric if he ever bit me and forced me to walk around.

Wait, why'd I instantly assume Eric would be the one to bite me? I shook my head. "Look, Sookie, I have a problem."

"Oh?" slowly, she was pulled from her memories, her eyes filled with concern. "What'd you do?"

I frowned. Why'd she assume I was the one that did something? I mean, in this case, and pretty much every other case, that had been how it turned out. But still. "Eric tried to get me to invite him in yesterday and I made him slap himself then slammed the door on his face."

Sookie stopped twirling her hair and let it drop softly against her shoulder. "Oh." She breathed. "Oh Alice."

I bit my lip waiting for her response. I wanted her to slap me, push me or hit me or scream at me. I wanted her to tell me I was stupid, that I'd done something wrong. My whole life people have been bending to me because they're attracted to my chi, no one ever told me I couldn't do anything, they encouraged me, actually, to do anything I wanted. I needed Sookie now, to tell me I was wrong.

"God, you're so stupid." She breathed, shaking her head, closing her eyes. I sighed, smiling. I wondered if she had read my mind and known what I wanted. I didn't care right now. "Eric's going to be pissed, Alice. He's going to make you pay one way or another, trust me. He wants you—your powers, and he's not going to stop until he has them. It's what he does. It's who he is."

I chewed on my lip relentlessly. I could barely think. "He called me, wants me to go to Fangtasia tonight."

Sookie nodded. "Then you should go. You have no other choice."

"I could run." I said quietly. I could pack my bags tonight and be out of here before anyone could blink. People would forget my name within a week, forget my face and body the next month. I'd move to a new town, be more careful. If a waitress was getting beaten to death in the parking lot, then I'd let her. I felt bile rising in my throat. Is that what I'm becoming? Over the years, is this what has happened to me?

"He'd find you." Sookie said gently. "You can't run from this one."

I collapsed onto a bar stool beside her. "Shit." I breathed. I rubbed my temples. "I—I want to be left alone." I admitted. My voice sounded small and it disgusted me.

"That's hard to do when, you know, you can do whatever it is you can do." Sookie said, laying a comforting hand on my knee.

"I'm not sorry I saved your life." I said eventually, so she knew. "I'd do it again, if I had to. Hopefully I won't, but I'm just saying. You know. Just in case." My voice sounded dry. I wasn't good at feelings. I only absorbed them, only took them from others chi's.

Sookie smiled wide, genuinely, catching onto what I was trying to say no matter how clouded it sounded. "Thanks." She said. "I appreciate it."

The restaurant opened after that, and a steady stream of customers filtered in. I took care of them easily, with a smile and a friendly voice. I got good tips that day.

I wondered what Eric was going to do to me. Bite me? Would he do that? I'd known him for maybe about ten minutes, collectively. I had no idea if he was capable of that much . . . ruthlessness. He could hit me. That sounded easy enough a punishment. I can take a punch, I can hold back tears of pain. It seemed more painful to think of it coming from Eric, though.

He could hand cuff me to his desk, force me to stay there until I gave into his requests. That made me quiver in fear that maybe he could, maybe he might take me, against my will. I shivered. No, he wouldn't. I'd kill him before he could even think of it. Could I? Could I drain him, kill another person?

I was bringing out a hamburger and a soda to a boy sitting across from his young girlfriend. They smiled at each other, and the boy made the girl laugh. I gave them their drinks, and caught sight of Sookie, running around in a blur of white shirt and blonde hair. I wondered what she would do. If Eric were to take her and try to bite her, drain her, and she had a stake in her hands, she wouldn't kill him. She'd cry and scream, but she wouldn't kill him. She couldn't, wouldn't.

I wondered what that was like, not having that ability to kill. And not just that, but to not kill at _any_ time. I have killed just because I was hungry. But to not only kill for food, but to not kill for my own life? It seemed impossible. It involved the mindset of placing every life above my own, involved being prepared to die at any moment, any second in my life and being completely okay with that.

And I wasn't. I wasn't okay with that.

I don't know what happened, but somehow the day stretched itself thin, and the day blackened out. My replacement had come in, a sweet high school girl. Her name was Amanda or something. I filled her in on my section, what was up with who, who needed to have their keys taken away, who was having a mental breakdown and so on.

I was in the break room, taking my apron off. I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder but I couldn't move. "Hey." Sookie said, coming in softly behind me. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Yea."

"It's going to be okay." Sookie said. "He's not going to hurt you."

"I wouldn't be so sure." I mumbled. "You didn't see how angry he was after I—you know—made him slap himself."

Sookie sighed. "_You_ didn't see him when he gave you his blood." Sookie said. "He looked like he—cared. I've never seen Eric act that way. He just saw you on the ground and gave you his blood without thinking about it. I don't see why he'd hurt you right after healing you."

I rubbed the back of my neck, but nodded. "Okay." I breathed.

I turned around and gave her a quick, tight hug, before rushing out of the bar. I waved to Sam behind the counter, who gave Sookie a questioning look as I drilled by everyone. I hopped into my car, turned it on, and began driving before I lost my nerve.

Fangtasia was only twenty minutes away. I watched my headlights flash over everything as I drove, saw it highlight the empty forest. A deer ran across the road, prancing away without a care in the world. I sighed. Great, now I was wishing I was a deer.

I pulled into the parking lot of Fangtasia. It was incredibly busy, and the line of people was out the door. I pulled the tie out of my hair with shaking fingers and shook it out. My roots ached in my skull. I stepped from the car and locked the doors, then tried to skillfully step in the back of the line.

I was behind a large bloke, clad in black leather and heavy eyeliner. I tried hiding behind him.

There was a small breeze that chilled me and suddenly a breath, cold on the back of my neck. I whirled around, surprised. Pam stood there in a skin tight red dress, her eyes undressing me as she looked me up and down. "Mmm." She hummed, running her tongue over her extended fangs. "I see why Eric has taken such an interest in you."

I swallowed. "Hi?" I said lamely.

She smiled. "He's waiting for you inside." She said, and was gone.

I slumped my shoulders in defeat. Hiding hadn't done me any good, it seems. I walked past the line of people, very aware of their stares as I was let in. I heard them shout protests, but Pam flashed them her fangs and they were all silent in an instant.

The club was alive with energy. It cackled in the air, screamed of sex. I stopped the second I was hit with it all. It absorbed into me, I let it, and it exhilarated me. For a moment, I forgot what I was here for, forgot that I was supposed to be scared out of my fucking mind. I just felt the chi, swirling and dancing and pumping with the music. People were all clad in dark clothes and leather, sweating and moving to the drumming beats sounding through the air. They panted and breathed against each other, skins touching and sliding and moving.

I was . . . hungry. I hadn't realized it before, but it had been a while since I had fed. It shocked me. Usually the minute I'd gone too long without feeding, I felt the hunger. But maybe working at Merlotte's, finding a friend in Sookie, had distracted me. Before, it had only been me and my hunger.

I could feel my eyes darken and the beast inside rear its head back. It wanted this, wanted the chi, wanted to feed. I moaned.

I felt Eric. It was the oddest sensation, but I felt eyes on me and I knew it was him. I found him quickly, and my lips quirked into a smile. He sat on top of a throne, above all the sweating humans and vampires, his legs slightly apart, eyes filled with hunger. A different kind though. I recognized that one as much as my own.

I glanced away quickly and made a bee line to the bar. If he can summon me here, he can pay for a drink or two. "What can I get for you—" the bartender, a thick man with long black hair began, but paused. I watched his nostrils flare as he took a breath of me in. He was a vampire. "My my _my_, don't we smell lovely tonight."

"Thanks." I rolled my eyes. "Just give me a shot of something strong."

He raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask. The liquid he gave me was clear, in a small shot glass and I downed it quickly, reveling in the burn running down my throat. "Another one." I demanded. It'd be easier to deal with Eric when I was at least buzzed.

I felt Eric watching me, and couldn't help a glance. I saw humans watching him. I saw their chi, the color of it, the glow, surrounding them, yearning for Eric. They wanted him to bite them, to drink from them, to add to their collection of scars across their bodies. They wanted him to mark them. I shot back another gulp of the burning liquid the bartender gave me, and hissed. It burned so good. Without a word, he filled it.

My eyes danced around the room. Vampires and humans alike stood up on platforms, dancing around poles, moving and bending. They became one with the music, I saw, eyes closed and hips swaying, arms reaching for the crowd, the crowd reaching back. It reeked of sex, yearned for it. I swallowed nervously. I'd met a witch a few years back. She made me nervous, with all the incantations she did. We had roomed together for a few weeks before I ran again. She'd discovered my . . . talents. Not because I tried it out on her, no way her chi was dark and dangerous, but because she could feel it on me, the energy I possessed. She tried to convince me to join her clan, even though I wasn't a witch, because she thought my talents could be 'useful". She told me what I was, the power I held. As a succubus, I was unlimited.

Sex made me hungry. So very, very hungry. I grabbed the shot glass and drank it before throwing the glass back on the counter. I felt my head spinning from consuming such a strong liquid in so short amount of time. My stomach turned. I ached for other life forces. I stood on shaky legs and without my consent they led me into the thrall of everyone. I touched skins with everyone I passed. I stood out in my work uniform. People watched me, drifted to me. A man, a human with short brown hair and skin shining with sweat, came behind me, gyrated his hips into me. I curled my arms behind me, behind his neck, danced against him.

They all tasted so good. I drank them all up, touched as much of them as I could. I drifted through the room, ate all I could and even when I was full I could barely stop. There was so much, so much energy, moving and bending and shifting within this room.

A human would walk into this bar and see a frenzy of people dancing.

All I saw was a thick hot mess of color and energy. It was a heavy mist of life. It came to me of its own accord, sometimes from all the way across the room and I couldn't help but take it all in, feel it all. My hands ran across my own body, across others. It all felt so . . . so real.

A cold, hard body pressed behind me. My eyes were closed, but I didn't need to look to see who it was. I turned around and placed my hands on his chest, breathed him in. His chi was different than anyone else's. His was electrifying. My fingers tingled as they danced across him. His hands found my waist, he moved with me, we moved together. I drank him in, elated. I felt high one everyone's life. The room spun around me. I felt Eric, hard yet soft against me and I enjoyed it, his chi, his body, his hands running along me. So good.

There was a blur of color and before I could blink, I was out of the room. Eric had me in his arms, strong and circled around me. He took us to his office without a word, opened and closed the door without me even seeing him use his hand. I was dropped on top of his desk. My butt pressed into something sharp, my leg rested on a pile of papers, but I didn't care. My fingers clawed at his chest, needing, hungry.

His lips crashed against mine. They were starving. I felt the rawness as he yearned for me. I opened my mouth for him and tasted him. He was sweet, salty, and dangerous. I moaned into him, into his chi. His hands roamed over my body, touching everywhere, his cool fingers leaving a trail of fire wherever he went. I couldn't get enough of him, no matter how much he did, I wanted more, and more and more—

"Woah!" I said, startled. My eyes opened wide. I felt sick. "Woah, no, no, back off."

The monster and the beast within me shut down, buried beneath the amount of energy I had within me. I felt my body pulsing and vibrating with it all. I'd never been so—so full. I was terrified. The energy was humming and beating a tune I could not figure out. Eric stood so close, shirt off. When had that happened?

I shook my head and pushed at him, tying to move him, but he wouldn't budge. "Seriously, Eric, I—"

I looked up at him then, into his eyes. I paused. He was so raw, the hunger I saw in there. His eyes were pure black, fangs extended. He was breathing, heavy and hard even though he had no need to.

"O-oh." I breathed.

He growled, but stepped back, turning his back to me to gain his composure. I glanced down at myself, fixed my shirt (somehow it had come half way off) and jumped off of the desk. My body was almost in pain. I felt like I was to the brim with it all, all of this energy. Even with Eric away from me, I moaned against it all. What was happening?"

"Alice." Eric said quietly, menacingly from where he stood, pulling his back shirt back over his head. "If you truly want me over here, away from you, then don't moan like that. Otherwise I'm inclined to ravish you wholly and completely until you scream my name over and over again."

I smiled, quivering from the sound of his voice, but quieted. I wanted him, wanted him to do those things he promised to me. I wanted to scream out his name, wanted all of my dreams to come true. But this energy within me was dangerous. I'd never felt like this before, never fed so fully, never even been to a club before which was why. But I felt the potential within me and if I didn't put all my focus into just containing it all, just the sole fact of keeping all my walls up, then I had no idea what would happen. I was scared I could hurt him.

And that scared _me_.

I stood up on trembling legs and sat down heavily in the small wooden chair across from his desk. Eric, having composed himself, sat across from me, staring at me with serious, full eyes. "Hello, Alice." He said.

And that made me laugh. I don't know why, but it did. Maybe because we'd just stopped ourselves from bumping uglies seconds ago, and he was acting like we were just meeting each other now. He tilted his head to the side from my reaction, but I giggled none the less. "Hello to you too, Eric."

"Why does this make you laugh?" he wondered.

I shook my head. "It's nothing."

We're both quiet for a moment, and I spend it looking at him. He's so handsome, with his hair disheveled, his shirt slightly skewed. His eyes were bright and alive with the recent events, hunger lingering at the corners. I knew how he felt. But I hated the need to keep him from danger, from me.

"Why—why'd you call me here?" I stuttered, regretfully bringing us back to the present.

He smiled, and flashed me his fangs, making my heartbeat take off. I know he could hear it, knew it exhilarated him, and it made me angry. "I wanted to see how'd you react." He said eventually.

"React? React to what?" I asked, breathless. React to him? React to whatever punishment he was about to rain down on me?

"React to the club." He said slowly, as if I were stupid, purposely making me angry. "To the people inside. I know you fed off of energy. I wanted to see how the energy of the club made you act."

I stared at him for a moment, dumbfounded. So he was . . . testing me? Like I was some experiment? There was no punishment, he wasn't even angry. He just brought me here to watch me feed. What a sick fucker.

"You piece of shit."I breathed. He glanced at me with on perfect eyebrow raised, the corner of his mouth turning upwards. "Do you have any idea how many people I just fed from? I could have killed someone!"

"Could you have?" Eric wondered aloud, watching me rant with an air of amusement around him.

"You saw what I did to Mack, asshole." I snapped. "I lose any ounce of control and BAM, someone dies."

"As far as I saw, you lost a good amount of control and everyone is perfectly fine."

"You took advantage of me." I accused, standing up.

Eric's smirk disappeared instantaneously and he gave me a very serious, very scary look. "I would never take advantage of you."

"Then what the fuck do you call what just happened!" I shouted. My breathing was coming in short, ragged gasps. I felt the energy inside of me, all of the life forces, begging to be let out. I held onto it, though my anger clouded everything.

"We were locked in thralls of passion, lover." Eric said, that quip of amusement back on his face.

"Stop calling me that!" I shouted.

"I've never called you that before, lover." Eric says, seriously now. "Has someone been dreaming of me?"

I fumed inside, felt it turning with all of the chi. "You know I have, you cocky prick. It was your friggen blood, I can't control it."

His lips turned upwards into a seductive grin. I hated how my legs trembled from that one easy look. "And what do I do to you, exactly, in these dreams?"

I groaned and closed my eyes, tried grabbing control of my annoyance, my anger, my irritation. The chi inside of me screamed to be let lose, the anger goading it on. I was growing tired. This was a new battle for me, one I'd never fought for before. It was strange and awkward and I had no idea what I was doing.

"Shut up, Eric." I seethed through clenched teeth. I refused to open my eyes, watch him smirk at me in that way. "I want to go home."

"Not yet." Eric sighed. I opened my eyes to look at him sharply. He motioned towards the chair, his smile gone. "We have some matters of business to discuss as well tonight."

I rolled my eyes, but sat down. I could leave, but I wasn't home now, wasn't in the sanctuary of my house where he had no invitation. This was his domain. "What." I snapped.

"So feisty." He breathed, looking me over. I felt naked under his gaze, and hugged myself in an attempt to cover my body from him. He smiled, seeing my reaction. "I want to employ you." He said finally.

"I already told you I don't want to work for you." I spat across the space between us.

His face became very serious then, no sign of sexual jabs. "You don't have a choice in this matter." He stated simply, and my stomach dropped, knowing this was true. It just sucked hearing him say it like that, throwing it right out there in the open.

"What exactly would you have me do?" I asked.

"It depends on what you _can_ do."

I stared at him, waiting, before I caught on. "Oh, this is the part where I gush to you about all my lovely talents, right?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Yes."

"Well then, if you say so. Firstly, go fuck yourself. Secondly, I want to go home."

Eric didn't give me a smile or an amused look. He didn't take kindly to my insults, then. I wasn't as scared as I should be, I realized. But the life forces inside me blocked out all rationality. I felt them all at their peaks, moving and bumping into one another, screaming and laughing and bubbling within me. They were wonderful and distracting. I felt myself retreat into them, away from Eric and this place.

"I don't take kindly to insults, Alice." Eric warned in a strained voice. I glanced up at him, swallowing. "I'll ask you once more to explain yourself."

I bit my lip. I came to a sudden conclusion to tell him, to spill it all whether it be lies or not so I could get out of her and run somewhere secluded where I could release this energy and find some peace. "I feed off of chi." I said quickly. "I'll die without it. I can heal myself, and others. I can feel emotions inside someone's chi, feel sort of what their thinking, if I focus just right, but that's not always conclusive. Sometimes I don't get anything at all."

"And sex?" he asks. I wonder how he knows that's my trigger. Maybe from the way I reacted in the bar just minutes ago.

I shrug. "It tastes better during sex." I admitted. Eric smirked.

"Is that all?" he asked.

I nodded and shrugged. "Not too exciting. I don't see what I could ever do for you."

He waved a hand over my body quickly. "And this?" He asked. "What's going on now?"

I'm startled he can tell what's happening to me. Am I tense or strained? I don't care,

I just sigh and lean back in the seat. "I don't know." I admitted. "I lost control and fed while dancing with all those people and I can feel them all, all of their chi's, just dancing around inside me. Their straining to get out, there's so many of them. I've never felt this way before."

Eric regarded me with guarded eyes. "Let them out." He said simply.

"Excuse me?"

"I want to see what happens if you just relapse them all. You said this is new. I'm curious."

I stood up. "Yeah, well I'm not. Look, I don't care, I'll work for you, whatever, I've already established I really can't do anything. But I won't dance or sit on your lap or whatever. I'm not your stripper in case that's what you're thinking. Just let me know."

I left the room then, turning my back to him and rushing through the crowd. Amazingly, the minute I entered back into the crowd of people, I wanted to feed again, wanted all of them inside of me. I whimpered and ran out the door, past Pam who watched me with curious eyes.

I made it to the parking lot before I let the fear and the anger and the hunger all wash over me in one tidal wave. I didn't want to work for Eric. He'd use me, I knew he would. It was who he was. I barely knew him, but I for sure knew he'd hurt me, not just physically, but mentally. And I hated him for the way he looked at me and the way he undressed me with his eyes, how he said all those things that got me all hot and bothered and made _me_ be the one to pull away, to stop us.

My hands were trembling. I looked down at them and held back a scream. They were glowing. I never glowed. My chi had always remained within me, didn't outwardly show like I saw on everyone else. But there it was, shining, whispering out of my finger tips and through the air. My hands were shaking so bad, the chi was trembling. I felt it within me, turning and trembling and aching.

I fell to my knees, holding on the gravel, feeling it dig into my palms. "Alice?" Eric appeared by my side, his voice concerned. Had he followed me outside? I'd never heard him sound like that, not since that night when he gave me his blood . . .

A surge of anger, hot and mighty, ripped its way through my body, leaving a burning trail. I hissed from the pain of it. Eric. This was all Eric's fault. I was here, on the gavel, because of him. I was angry and sad and hurt and tired because of him. I wanted to go home, wake up and go to work tomorrow, then go back to sleep. That's all I wanted. I didn't want him, or any of this. My hand shot out to push him aside and there was a shiver through me, through my whole body.

Time slowed. The world spun around me and I felt it, felt it more than anything I have before. Every fiber of my being shuddered with energy, with the extremity of it all. And then Eric was gone. I looked around, surprised. He had been there, and then he wasn't. I spotted him flying through the air, my arm following his body. I cried out. It was me, the energy was me, pushing him, forcing him away. I grabbed my arm, pulled it to me side, and Eric fell. I held my arm to my body. I was leaking this energy, it was forcing its way out and I couldn't hold it, couldn't do anything it was going, going, gone—

There was a rumble through my body. It growled once. Twice. "Alice!" Eric was calling my name. The people in line out front of the club were running, screaming. "ALICE!"

I exploded.

I lost my breathe, as if I had been socked right in the gut. Eyes wide, I rolled to my back. I looked up at the night sky. It was so clear, so beautiful. Pure.

The energy rushed out of me, threw itself into the ground, rumbled across the pavement. All the windows of every car shattered, imploded, glass tinkled everywhere.

There was an earth shattering moment where I was weightless, floating through oblivion. I felt the shards of rock dig into my back, the glass rain down and cut my delicate skin. I felt the cold air brush across my cheek and my chest, rising and falling with every breathe I took. But I was empty. All walls collapsed in an instantaneous second, and all energy rushed out from within me. I was socked in the stomach, I couldn't focus.

But it was just a second. An awful, awful second, before it rushed back into me. My body, operating on pure survival, took it all back, like it was an elastic band. It had stretched itself out, and now it was snapping back into place, back into me.

I collapsed back onto the ground. Eric's face came into view above me. I felt empty, but I saw him, and reached for his face. "I guess we can add something else to your list." He breathed, and gave me a shaky smile before his hand lightly touched my face.

"You're such a—"

I passed out.


	4. Chapter 4

_What have you done, Alice?_

_I stood in the living room. My hands were shaking so bad. I felt cold. I reached for mom but she backed away, hit the wall. "Mom." I begged, tears tickling the corners of my eyes. "I'm scared."_

"_Dear god." She breathed. Her eyes were dead. I remembered being sick a few weeks ago, and she had sat with me on my bed, brushed my hair with delicate fingers and hummed lullabies to me. She washed my burning skin with a cold cloth, helped me fall asleep. Now she was trembling, scared of me, disgusted. "What have you done?"_

_She asks me again and just as before, I can't answer. I don't know what I've done. I'm so scared, and I'm confused. We were just messing around, I swear that's all we were doing. His hand had gone up my shirt, I'd never felt that way before and then—then he was falling away and his eyes were dull and—and he was gone—_

"_Mom, please." I gasped. I felt a heavy weight in my chest and I held my arm out for her, took a step closer. She gasped, shivered, and inched herself across the wall, pressing herself as far from me as possible. "It was an accident." I pleaded. "I don't know what's happening, please, mom!"_

_She runs into the kitchen, tripping over her own feet. She starts to scream and I feel a piece of me tear. She's scared of me. I pass myself in the mirror and I see my hair, skewed, my make up over my face from crying. I look like a monster. I am a monster. I run after mom, find her in the kitchen on the other side of the island, gasping. "Stay away!" she screams. "Stay away from me!"_

"_Mom, it's me." I beg, stepping forward. "It's me, mom, I swear."_

_She's shaking her head, her fake curled hair flying, tears running. "No." she cries. "No, you demon, you have my daughter, but you are not her."_

_My fingers clench into tight fists. I cry out, not any words, just a sound. There's colors all around her. I've seen them for a few months now. They're beautiful, and moving, curling and twisting. I'd just seen them, though. I'd never wanted to feed from them. I watch her, her lights, and I want it, I want those lights for myself, like I did with Jimmy today, in his car—but now he's dead. I killed him._

_A shiver courses through my body and I'm gasping. "Mom, I'm so scared." I admit. "I'm so scared. Help me."_

_I take one more step and she launches half of her body over the counter, grabs a knife from the knife block and holds it in both hands. It shakes; she can't hold it steady, can't hold it up straight to her daughter._

_My lips tremble, I see her fear, her self preservation leaking from her. "Mom, it's me." I whisper. "Look at me."_

_Her eyes aren't looking though. She sees me, sees me crying and walking slowly towards her, but she's not looking. She's not looking for her daughter in me; all she sees is this monster. I place a hand on the cold marble counter top. I helped her pick it out when we bought the house. My body aches for those times, not this, not this moment here, right now. I take a step around, so we're just feet away, facing each other with only the knife to separate us._

"_Stay away!" she screamed, but the knife is shaking so bad, she can barely contain it._

_I stop, and hold my hands up. They are clean. There is no blood on them, but yet I have a dead body on my conscious. "It's me, mom." I say quietly, biting back any emotion. I need her to see me. I need her to look for me. "It's Alice. It's me, your daughter, and I'm scared. I'm scared and I need you."_

_Her arms tire, I see shivers run through the muscles, and she lets out a rough gasp before her arms drop to her side. Her eyes are puffed and red and she grinds her teeth together roughly. "Alice." She whispers. I let out a sigh, and know she's seen me, knows she can help me. She's my mom again, not my prey, not someone weaker than me. She's here to take care of me, and I rush forward, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and I hug her. My body tenses as I fight the urge to feed from her light. This is my mother. She will protect me until the day I die, and I will not feed from her, not even if I am in pain and dying, not even if—_

_There's an awful, awful pressure in my abdomen. My breathe leaves my body and I take a step back as if someone has punched me right in the stomach. I've stopped crying. Emotions don't exist within me in this moment, and all I can see is mom, standing there, body shivering. She won't stop shaking. I tilt my head to the side. Had she punched me? "Mom?" I murmur. _

_Her arm, trembling so bad, lifts up the knife and she looks at it, her eyes wide and unmoving and I look at it too. Something's dripping from it. Blood. That's blood. "Mom?" I say, and I'm scared._

_The pressure reverberates through my body like electrical currents. I look down. I was wearing my white blouse. I had wanted to look good for jimmy tonight. But it was stained, and the crimson patch was growing, and spreading. I was going to have to throw this shirt away._

_I shake my head. Mom had—she—I was stabbed._

_My legs tremble as bad as her body and I fall to my knees. I make contact with the cold, hard tiles and my knees ache from the impact. Mom drops the knife. My blood splatters out from it across the floor. I look up at her as my hands press into the wound, trying to stop the bleeding, trying to close it. She didn't stab me. It was an accident. She slipped, hadn't realized she was holding it, didn't know what she was doing—_

_She slowly lowers herself to her knees, so our eyes are on the same level. She's crying again. She doesn't come to me, doesn't help me, and I'm crying too, I'm in so much pain. The wound emits shocks of angering burns through my body. I cough. Something wet is in my throat, and when it comes out, onto the front of my shirt, it's a splatter of blood._

_I'm dying._

"_Mom, help." I say quietly. My voice lacks all commitment. I see it in her eyes that she won't help me. She sits back on her heals, her arms wrapping around herself, hugging herself. She rocks forwards, and backwards, eyes wide and staring, staring at me, staring at my blood, staring at my death. "Help."_

_I lean forward, hands touching the tiles. I don't have a grip, and my hands slide in the blood and I'm falling to my stomach, and onto my back, and I'm holding the wound but it's bleeding, and it won't stop. It comes out through my finger tips and out of my shirt, onto the floor. It pools around me until I'm swimming in my own blood. The room is bright. Everything is emanating its own life. I hear mom whimper but more so I feel her, feel her energy, feel it shriveling and locking itself away deep inside her, in a strange way, as if it's not part of her anymore, but hidden, secret, detached._

_I reach a blind hand to her. I let go of the wound. I'm dying and it hurts. I never thought about how much it could hurt to die. I figured—I just thought that—_

"_Mom, I'm sorry." I whisper. "I'm so sorry."_

I wake in a painful panic. Horrible tremors pass through my body and I'm lifting my shirt, clawing at the fabric, and running my hands over the smooth skin of my abdomen. No wound, no blood, no—I find the scar with my fingers tips and I pause. A lump forms in my throat. I've had this same dream so many times and I always wake up, always thinking that's all it was, just a dream. I bite my lip and stare at the ragged, ugly thing stretching across.

I feel other chi in the room then. I don't know how I hadn't realized there were others in here, I must have been too preoccupied. I check myself, internally, and yes, I had been feeding. My hands pause their travel over the scars and I'm horrified. I'd been feeding, and I hadn't even realized it. I put up every barrier and slowly glance up and around me.

I'm lying on a wide bed with dark, crimson red sheets. The canopy above me drapes fabric all around. It looks decadent and expensive. The room is dark, with no natural light, only two lamps lit on either side of the bed. There's a bureau, a side table, and a door leading into a bathroom. The other door I assume leads form here.

I look around me quickly, eyes scanning and taking in, and I try to find the people I had been feeding from. They were vampires, I know this. Their taste is . . . unique. I find them, two of them, in a corner, watching me, eyes dead and staring. I see Eric first, his face a mask, but the younger looking man, shorter, boyish almost, I don't recognize.

"Eric?" I say. "W-what happened?"

"You don't remember?" he asks quietly. His voice is tense, and I wondered if he had felt it, felt me feed from his chi.

I bite my lip and think as hard as I can. "I think I was fighting with you." I said awkwardly. "But then, when am I not fighting with you?"

There's a snort, maybe a little bit of a laugh, and I look up sharply, to the new vampire, and I realize that I'm in a room with a vampire I do not know. "Who are you?" I ask, but it comes out sounding harsh and rude. I look to Eric, and he's relatively comfortable in the man's presence. If Eric trusts him, then maybe I should too. I shake my head. "I'm sorry that was . . . rude. I'm just—you know—it's not totally safe to be in a, er, bedroom with a stranger, let alone a vampire."

I clear my throat as the young vampire tilts a corner of his mouth upwards in a ghost of a smile. He looks up to Eric, eyebrows raised, and Eric looks down to him. I get the feeling I'm missing out on some unseen conversation. I'm taken aback when I really, really pay attention to the younger vampires chi. It's so . . . different.

Old. That's the word that comes to me instantly. I've never seen anything like it. It's so thin, and wispy, and moving and twirling and twisting. I'm mesmerized by it, imagining the amount of knowledge it contains, the amount of things he's seen. He was pulsing energy. I felt it through the walls I'd placed up around me, felt myself absorbing him into me even though I forced myself not to. It's amazing. It's one thing to be in the same room with someone this old, let alone to feel them, feel their chi, feel it coursing through my own body.

I let out a low breath.

Eric sighs an unnecessary breath and glance to him as he looks to me. "Alice." He says gruffly. "Meet Godric."

*********************E****************

Eric watched her from the corner of the room, buff arms crossed over his chest. She was a restless sleeper. He'd come to her house some nights, waited outside her window, and watched her toss and turn. Was it creepy? Probably, but he was a Viking vampire, and anything he did was creepy.

She whispered illegible things in her sleep, she moaned and she cried and turned around. The sheets tangled in her legs. He'd thought about removing her clothes, nothing sexual, just for her own comfort. But when she awoke, he had no intentions of dealing with the hell she would give him.

He let out a small breath, and leaned back against the wall. She tossed herself onto her back, her hand splaying across her stomach, the other up and to the left of her head. Her hair stuck to her lip, and every time she breathed, it fluttered about. His chest tightened, remembering her just a short few hours ago, in the parking lot, wild and crazed and releasing all that energy.

She'd placed it into him. He was sure of it, had felt it. It knocked the hypothetical breathe out of him and he was flying through the air, twisting and turning and it was all her. He could still feel it, her energy, feel it coursing through him. He took a deep breath in through his nose, inhaled the scent of her, and decided that yes, her energy was still in him, still moving. He imagined how it would feel to be like this all the time, feel this energy all the time coursing through your veins. It was almost too much to take, and he had had it within him for less than three hours.

His phone went off in his pocket and with vampiric speed, he grabbed it from the back of his pants and answered it before it could wake Alice. He spoke quietly. "Yes."

"He's here." It was Pam, and her voice was equally hushed. Eric's eyes rested on the girl as her breathing slowed down, and she entered a deeper REM cycle. He let out a sigh and flipped the phone off. He left her in comfort, knowing that at least for a few hours, she'd be resting silently.

He left the room and made his way through the less appeasing parts of Fangtasia's basement. Eric's first instinct had been to take her to one of his safe houses. After she had passed out, she hadn't been breathing for almost thirty seconds. But she started gasping for breath, started shaking, started mumbling something about her mother, and afterwards she was fine. Pam convinced him to take her down into the cellar of Fangtasia, to his emergency light tight room he used in case of a late night.

After Alice and her . . . incident, Fangtasia cleared out. Eric dealt with the cops for a while, glamouring everyone who may have seen Alice and her energy outburst. Everyone was upset about their cars, all of the windows being blown out, but Eric didn't give a fuck.

Pam was in the main room of Fangtasia, leaning against the bar. "You couldn't have walked down a flight of steps to get me?" Eric snapped, walking past her.

"I didn't know if you and the girl were getting down and dirty." Pam drawled. "He's in your office."

Eric stalked past her and down the short hallway, pausing outside his office door for only a fraction of a second before entering. Godric stood with his back to him, his arms hanging by his sides. He didn't look back to Eric, only ran a hand over the open folders and papers scattered over his desk. "Seems as if you and Pam are doing well." He commented.

Eric stood still for a moment, silently, until Godric turned around to face Eric. His boyish face broke out into a gentle smile. "Hello my child." He said softly. "It's been too long."

Eric returned his smile and walked the short distance separating him and his maker to pull him into a tight embrace. "It's good to see you, Godric." Eric said into his makers hair.

Godric released him first and took a seat on the other side of the desk. He motioned to Eric to sit behind his desk, and Eric obliged without question. He was exhausted, and it was still a few hours until he had to rest. He collapsed into his chair with a grunt, and looked at Godric from across the desk. "Pam informed me of a girl." Godric said, his voice quiet and lack of any emotion.

Eric watched his maker carefully, but couldn't read anything through their bond, had no clue what Godric was thinking. His maker had raised him to despise humans for everything but their blood and bodies. Of course Godric has changed, is still changing. He's quieter now, if the boy in front of him proves anything, and he's subtle. He almost cares for the humans, respects them in a way. But that didn't mean he wasn't angry at Eric for taking a human down to his light tight room, giving her shelter, and not even feeding from her, not taking her blood as it was rightfully his.

"She's . . . special, apparently." Godric mused, titling his head to the side. Eric watched the trail of his tattoo peaking out of the neck of his shirt. He's seen them a million times, for a thousand years, and knew them by heart but they fascinated him every time he saw them in person, on his skin. Beautiful. "And you haven't claimed her."

Eric eyes snapped to Godric's. "No." He said quietly. "No I haven't."

"That's dangerous, Eric." Godric warned. "If someone else were to figure out about her gifts, then they could claim her. And depending on the vampire, that could be very, very bad. For the girl, and for everyone else."

Eric didn't say anything, because he knew. He's thought about it for a while. It'd be safer for the girl. She wouldn't have thought about it like that for a while, maybe never. She'd hate Eric for taking away that part of her freedom, even though it wouldn't be his intent to take it away, only protect it. And he was going to do it, he had gone to her house one night. He stood out on her porch, prepared to get her to invite him in. He'd seduce her, bite her, and claim her. But he stood there and he watched her, sleeping on her couch, still in her uniform. She was mumbling again. Her shirt had ridden up and she was holding onto her scar with both hands, holding onto it like it was still fresh and she was trying to contain her life.

And he found he couldn't do it, couldn't wake her and take her away, take her freedom, claim her and her blood and her body. He couldn't do it until she wanted it too. Of course he wasn't so noble as to just leave her be. He fully intended to claim her, every bit of her. He'd wear her down until she caved, but when she did, he would not hesitate. But for a strange and awful reason, he wanted her to want him as badly as he needed her.

Godric sat still through his silence, wise and old eyes gazing at his son. "Very well then." Godric sighed. "We will have to keep her secret, then, for at least a little while."

The corner of Eric's lips turned up. How could he have doubted his makers reaction? Of course he'd support Eric, in anything he did, even in his mistakes. "Thank you, Godric." Eric says softly.

Godric takes in a deep breath, tasting the room, and lets out the breath slowly. "She's here." He says, not a question, but a statement. Eric nods once. "What can she do?"

Eric cleared his throat and sat up a bit straighter. "She can manipulate energies." Eric informed. "I think she feeds off of them. It's very sexually based. She was in the club last night, and the atmosphere drove her to feed beyond her limits. We were in the parking lot and she blew me across the gravel without touching me, and burst all the windows in every car. It's quite exceptional."

"Hm." Godric muttered. Eric watched his eyes distance themselves, a look he was familiar with. Godric was remembering. And with having two thousand years under his belt, he had a lot of things to remember. Eric sat in silence, letting his maker think. "I'd like to meet her." He said finally.

"Do you have an idea of what she is?" Eric asked, his voice sounding more strained than he had wanted it to.

Godric's face was blank. "I'm not sure. I think that maybe . . . but it would be impossible. Yes, I'd like to see her."

The two vampires stood and exited the office. Eric led the way slowly through the basement and to his room. He was quiet when he opened the door, and surprised to see Alice restless once more. Did the girl ever sleep soundly?

He stepped aside to let Godric in. The older vampire stopped halfway through the door, eyes hard on the young woman. He watched his makers nostrils flare as he inhaled her scent, breathed it wholly into him. And then Godric did something odd. He growled deep in his chest, and his fangs extended, eyes never leaving the girl, tossing and turning. Eric stepped in front of his maker, arms wide, feeling a strong and painful urge to protect the weak girl. "Godric, settle yourself." Eric said.

Godric looked up at Eric, eyes on fire, fangs shining. "Do you not recognize her scent?" he growled, his voice menacing and cutting. "How dangerous she is to us, to _everything_?"

Eric glanced back at Alice, weak, pale, having a nightmare and sweating and crying out for her mother. No, she didn't look dangerous to him. Not at all. "Godric, you're mistaken, whatever you think she is—"

Both vampires were taken aback by a strong, and very pronounced pull deep within their chests. Eric's arms fell to his side and he turned back to Alice, watched her weeping in her sleep. His skin felt on fire, pleasantly tingling. His hands started to shake. He felt . . . alive. His dead heart ached from the feeling, ached from the sheer magnitude of it all. Of feeling alive, after being dead for so long. He knew it was Alice, it was so obvious. She was feeding in her sleep. He should feel insulted, angry, stopped her, killed her, claimed her, did something that resembled his nature, but he couldn't. He could only feel what she was doing to him, what it felt like to have her feed, what all those humans felt when she fed from them.

Godric stood by his side, feeling similar things, but he did not share the mesmerizing characteristics that Eric was portraying. When Eric looked down to his maker, he saw something completely opposite. He saw a sadness deep within his makers eyes. Godric looked up to Eric and shook his head. "You have no idea how dangerous she is, my child." He said softly.

"Mom, help." Alice gasped. Eric's head snapped back to the girl. It was the first time he had heard her speak something clearly in her sleep. She clutched at her abdomen, her fingers clawing at the skin. "Mom, I'm sorry." She whispers. Her heart is racing, both vampires can hear it, hear her blood pumping and running beneath her delicate skin. "I'm so sorry."

She woke up quickly, and unexpectedly, screaming into the room. She pulled and clawed at her shirt, completely unaware of the vampires in the room, watching her with curious eyes as she ran her hand across the smooth skin, frantic, and then pausing as they touch the scar. Eric watches her body sag as her finger tips danced over the raised skin.

She seems to realize then that she is in a different place, somewhere she doesn't recognize, and looks around, finally her eyes settling on Eric and Godric. Eric fights a startled jump when he feels that connection, feels his energy flowing into Alice, suddenly cut right off. It almost hurts. He watches her closely, see's her guilty and slightly horrified eyes. She must have realized she'd been feeding. "Eric?" she asks, and her voice is shaking. "W-what happened?"

Eric tilts his head to the side. "You don't remember?"

Her eyes cloud over as she attempts to remember anything at all. "I think I was fighting with you. But then, when am I not fighting with you?"

Godric laughs then, and Eric looks to him, startled. Just moments ago Godric had had all intentions to attack the girl, he had seen the animal in his eyes. "Who are you?" Alice asks, her voice almost accusing. Eric looks up at her, a warning on the tip of his tongue to respect Godric, when she shakes her head. "I'm sorry, that was . . . rude." Eric is shocked. She's apologizing, and he's certain that's the first time she's ever done that. He wondered, almost amazed, at what she had tasted in Godric's chi, if she could have understood how old he is, how much he should be respected. "I'm just – you know—it's not totally safe to be in a, er, bedroom with a stranger, let alone a vampire."

Eric feels Godric look up to him, eyebrows raised, as if waiting for an introduction. He sighs and glances to Alice, who's staring at Godric with curious eyes, her head titled to the side. He's taken off guard by the ache in his chest, just looking at her, sitting on his bed, hair tussled and messed around, and innocent. She looked young and pure with that curious little look in her eyes. Godric clears his throat quietly, so only Eric can hear, and jerks Eric from his daze. "Alice." He says gruffly, shaken from what he had just felt. "Meet Godric."

*****************A***************

I was sitting up in Eric's office, prying at a hangnail. Eric and Godric had told me to wait in here, and I was doing as I was told, but my heart had not stopped racing since I had woken up. I felt . . . odd. I could feel the vampires energy inside of me and it was so different. I'd only ever tasted a vampire, never actually fed like I had. It felt . . . cold. Dead. But tingly, like it was dancing through my veins. It wasn't sustaining me, but it was intriguing enough.

I contemplated running. I had come to the conclusion upon waking up to trust Godric because Eric trusted him. But that begged the question as to how much I even trusted _Eric_. I had been unconscious for god knows how long, and he could have, you know, bitten me or something. He could have left me in the parking lot. He could have killed me. He could have dumped me at the hospital or even drop me off at home. But he had put me in his own bed, unharmed.

I started chewing on my finger nails, having successfully torn away the hangnail. The door behind me opened and I jumped to my feet, looking behind me. Eric walked in cautiously, eyeing me in an odd way, followed by a calm Godric who takes a quiet seat on the leather sofa. I sat slowly back into the worn wooden chair, watching Eric's face behind his desk, holding his elbow in one hand and his chin in the other.

"Godric knows what you are." Eric says finally, after the silence started to become suffocating.

I glanced over to Godric, who watched me with cautious and wary eyes. "Oh?" I asked. I hadn't told anyone, not even Sookie, what I was. I mean, I guess the blonde could have told someone about my abilities, but I hadn't directly told her what I was. There was no way the message could have relayed back to Godric. Unless he could smell it in my blood. Was that possible? I mean, I could taste differences in someone chi, why not in the blood also?

"I thought you might like to know." Godric said quietly. I looked over to Eric, unsure, but he was looking at Godric with anticipation. Godric must not have told him yet.

I shake my head. "I already know." I state simply. Eric looks at me sharply, eyebrows raised.

"Excuse me?" he asks.

I sigh. He looks so . . . disheveled. It's completely maddening, seeing his blonde hair on end, his jacket wrinkled, his shirt hung over his muscles and his face contorted in what was now anger and confusion. I wanted to attack him, but figured it'd be awkward with Godric sitting right there.

I shrug my shoulders. "I've always known." I say. I'm confused. Had he thought I had no idea of who I was, what I was capable of? I wasn't Sookie. I wasn't okay with knowing I had a few powers, but never pursuing the answers to them. I spent a decent five or six years searching for answers and I found them. Eric must have thought, though, that all freaks were like Sookie, unable to figure themselves out. I found it insulting.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he roared, throwing his hands in the air and sitting harshly in his desk chair. "I've spent over a week trying to figure it out."

I shrugged again. "I never told you that I didn't know who I was." I defended myself. "You just never asked."

His eyes were flaming, as if he was telling me this was no excuse. I thought it was a perfectly good one. "What are you." He asks directly.

I glance to Godric, who's face is stony, as if he is witnessing my own funeral. I swallow thickly and look back to Eric. "I'm—well I'm a—you know it's, like, well, sort of—"

"Godric." Eric cut off my stuttering. I swore under my breath. I thought I had been buying time to decide whether or not to even tell him, but I guess I forgot how much of an impatient prick he was. I felt the tightening of hunger in my stomach, and wrapped my arm around my abdomen, trying to hide my discomfort. Feeding from Eric and Godric had been filling for a moment, but their chi was weak, and I had used it already, just to breathe and live. No wonder I'd never fed from a vampire before, at least not as thoroughly as I had done before.

"Yes, Eric." Godric sighs, rolling his eyes over to the taller vampire. I smile, knowing Godric can tell exactly what Eric wants. Maybe him and I are more alike than I thought.

"Tell me." Eric pleads. He looks between Godric and me, and I can tell he absolutely hates being the only one out of the loop.

Godric opens his mouth, and I know he's going to say it, but I burst into the conversation. "Look, the history of my kind isn't pretty." I said quickly. "I researched it for a few years, I asked around and went to plenty of libraries. I'm not like that, is what I'm trying to say. Seriously, though. They were monsters and evil, and then they were used and abused and I swear, seriously, I'm calmer and less . . animalistic, then they were."

"I don't even know who 'they' are!" Eric erupts.

Godric is looking at me sharply, and I know he's judging me. I wondered if he was old enough to have lived through the eras I read about, when my kind would go around killing and feeding. I wondered if he was part of the group of vampires who had helped eradicate them all. I swallowed and looked away, unable to take his gaze, and the power behind it.

"Tell him." Godric says to me. I peek up at him, my heat fluttering. "Alice." Godric says, flatly, and I groan.

"Fuck it." I snap. "I've told you I'm not like them, I guess you guys can judge for yourselves." I pause, and swallow, and glance up at Eric. Why am I so nervous? Why do I even care how Eric would look at me after this, how badly he could judge me. "I'm a succubus, Eric." I say softly.

I look at my hands in my lap, twiddling my thumbs. It's quiet in the room. I try to not feel his chi, but it's like trying to not blink. You can stop it for a while but then your eyes sting and water, and you can't help it until you blink. I feel his turmoil. It's shocking, how ferocious it is.

I throw my hands in the air, and stand. "I told you I'm not like those other women." I explain. "They killed and fed until they were full, then they did it again and again. And I know you guys killed them all, I get it, they were monsters, but seriously, I'm not like that. I feed only when I have to, and I do my best to keep the person alive."

Eric's internal turmoil pauses for a moment as he glances at me. "You've killed?" he asks, surprised.

I feel shame leak through my entire body, and it burns. "I don't mean to." I gasp. I feel an urge to cry and I hate that, because I haven't cried in years. Of course the first time will be in front of two old, very powerful vampires. "I- I get so hungry sometimes and then I can't stop and you don't know what it's like, to feel so empty inside, without all the energy. It hurts so bad, hurts someplace so deep inside and I can't stand it."

Eric's head tilted to the side. "That night, after I saved you, a man was reported dead in Shreverport. He had no trauma of any kind on his body, except for a bruise on his neck."

I swallowed, seeing the unsaid question in his eyes, and nod. "But he was a bad person." I say, looking to Godric because I have a desperation in me to explain myself, tell them I'm not a bad person, I'm really not.

"How could you have known that?" Godric wonders. I now he's not accusing me, I can hear it in his voice, feel it in his chi. He's curious.

I clear my throat and shift awkwardly on my feet. "I can feel it in their chi." I say.

"Chi?" Eric asks.

I nod. "Yeah, it's like a Chinese word for life force. I never would have used it but in one of the books I read, they kept referring to life force as chi. I just thought it was easier to say."

"Can you feel my chi, and Eric's?" Godric asks. I turn to him and nod. "What do you feel?"

I sigh and shift again. The hunger in the pit of my stomach is starting to itch away at me, begging me to feed. It's going to be difficult to concentrate soon. "Is this really necessary?" I ask.

"Yes." Eric answers for Godric, his voice tight. I look at him, and his eyes are clouded and dark and I cringe away from the look. Stop judging me, I want to scream. Just stop!

"Godric's is old." I tell them quietly. "He's tired. It's thin and weak because he's lived so long, it just drifts away sometimes."

I stop talking for a moment. Just talking about it makes me want to taste it, just a tiny bite of the life force, but I slap away the thought. This vampire could kill me before I could even bat an eyelash.

"And me?" Eric asks, voice dangerously low.

I don't look at him when I answer, merrily just wish I was out of this cramped office and somewhere open, somewhere feeding . . . "You're angry." I whisper. "And you're confused and you're in turmoil. Your emotions are everywhere. You want to kill me, then you don't want to kill me. You can't figure out who you are anymore, who Eric is and it's pissing you off."

I stare at the wall somewhere over Eric's shoulder, pretending I see something fascinating. Eric doesn't say anything for a while. "Godric, can you give us a moment?"

Uh oh. Don't go, Godric, I think he might seriously kill me now. But Godric does go, without a word or anything, he stands and leaves and shuts the door quietly behind him. "Look at me, Alice."

I don't look at him, not until there's a breath of wind on my neck and he's standing tall and mighty in front of me. He rests a cool finger under my chin and tilts my head back. I swallow.

"What do you want from me?" I ask.

He releases my chin but now he's caught me in his gaze and I can't look away. His cool fingers trail down my arm, leaving a strand of fire on my skin. My breath comes out in quick gasps, until his fingers touch at my abdomen, over my scar. I take a sharp step away, hugging my arms around my stomach, covering myself. "I want to know what happened to your stomach." Eric says.

I shake my head vehemently. "No, not that."

Eric tilts his head to the side, watching me with a curious expression. "Why would you leave a scar on your body if you can heal anything?"

I feel the raised skin from under the thin fabric of my shirt, and my voice gets caught in my throat. I wonder how he had seen the scar, but then again, it was completely obvious. I know I move and thrash in my sleep. He must have seen me before, seen the scar on my stomach while I slept. "You can't heal scars." I snap.

"You can." Eric argues.

I sat down roughly on the sofa Godric had vacated just moments before. Eric remained where he was, but leaned backwards against his desk though. "You were talking about your mother in your sleep." Eric commented.

I looked at my shoes, knowing he was burning holes into my, trying to judge my reaction. "So?"

"You said you were sorry." He plowed on. Did he not know when someone wanted to keep their past hidden? Jesus the guy was so pushy. "Why were you sorry?"

"Because I'm a monster!" I cried. I just wanted him to stop asking, stop making me remember. "I'm a monster and I made her lose her daughter. I was so sorry for her, so sorry she had to have me, whatever I am, whatever I can do, as a daughter instead. I ruined her life."

I didn't hear Eric walk, or even move, but suddenly he's in front of me again and pulling me to my feet with a strong grip on my arms, unwinding my grip from my stomach. His hand, so impossibly large, rests over the scar, covering it completely with cold hands. "I'm sorry." He mutters softly.

I want to kiss him. Not because I'm hungry or because I'm a succubus and this is my nature, but because his eyes are so soft and his mouth looks so . . . available. I push him away from me, gasping for breath. "I know you don't care Eric, so just stop." I snap. I close my eyes and try to gain control, but he's shaken me, and I can't get back into myself. "I need to feed."

"I'll get someone."

"No, Eric, let me go, and I'll come back." I argue, looking up at him.

He shakes his head. "You don't know the entire history of your people." He says quietly. "You don't know what you are capable of. I'm afraid you can't leave, not until we've . . . sorted some things out."

My stomach drops, even though I had known that this might be the case. "I need to feed, though." I argue, although only half of my heart is in it.

"I told you, I'll bring in someone."

I shake my head and sigh. The thick headed bastard is so stupid. "No, Eric. I need to _feed_." He looks at me, and I know he doesn't get it still. "I'm a succubus, Eric. And I need to feed. Connect the dots, here, big guy."

His eyes widen inaudibly before he regains himself, and smiles down at me. "Well I'm right here, and I'll be glad to service you."

"You mean to be at my service." I correct.

He shakes his head. "No, I don't mean that."

I swallow thickly and there's a tantalizing pull that wants me to take him up on the offer, but it'll be stupid. Not because of the sex, no, that wouldn't be stupid. Because I'm hungry, though. "Eric, your chi doesn't sustain me. I need a human. And I don't want to do it in here, not with a bunch of vampires listening."

He seems slightly disappointed, then shrugs his massive shoulders. "It's either do it here, or don't do it at all."

"Eric!"

"Sorry, that's the way it is." But he's not sorry, if that big shit eating grin tells me any different.

I push at his chest and step around him. "Fine. You are such an asshole, Eric."

*****************E*************

"Oh _FUCK_!"

Eric sat at the bar, hands gripping the counter top so tight it crumbled under his grip. Godric sat beside him, smiling with such amusement the likes of which Eric hadn't seen in a long time. Pam twirled a blond strand of hair over her finger, listening carefully to Alice and her . . . companion, in the back room.

"Oh my god, you're so beautiful." The man in there said, and Eric growled. No one should be touching her but him.

"Shut up." Alice was panting.

Eric ran a hand through his hair and tried to gain control of himself, but then Alice moaned, no words just a sound and he almost ran to the back room and tore the door from its hinges, tearing that man limb from limb. Only Eric should make her moan like that. Only he should be in her, making her cry out.

"Eric, please." Pam drawled, rolling her eyes. "I doubt that man will mind if you join. You glamoured him enough anyways."

Eric shakes his head. "She'd stake me."

"That's never stopped you before." Godric points out, and it infuriates him that he even finds the need to state that. Of course it hasn't stopped him before, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that it's stopping him now.

There were two or three rooms in Fangtasia with long couches in case a few vampires got touchy, and wanted to feed. It was illegal, yes, but that's why Eric sent them to the back rooms, where no one could see them. He could hear them, hear the couch shaking and moving with their thrusts and grunts and movements.

"Shit, stop moving." Alice panted. "Fucking stop, just lay there, Jesus."

Eric smirked. He could help her better, could fuck her better than that kid ever could. He'd ruin any other man for her. Alice let out a loud moan, and Eric growled. Now she was just doing it to piss him off, he knew that.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Alice growled, and Eric smirked again. "No, just lay there, what the fuck—Eric you got me a fucking virgin? _Asshole_!"

She knew he could hear him, and he smiled. He could deal with it a bit better, knowing that the kid had no idea what he was doing, know she wasn't enjoying it as best as she could. Only he will make her scream.

"Really, Eric?" Godric sighs. "You couldn't just let her feed?"

"Not from some guy." Eric growls.

"But from you, that's fine." Godric states.

Eric nods once, listening to Alice's complaints over the kid, but that didn't help him from knowing the boy was fucking her just a few hundred feet away, and he couldn't stop them.

"We need to discuss what to do with the situation." Godric said finally.

Eric looked over to his maker. "The situation? What situation?"

Godric raised his eyebrows. "She's a succubus, in case you forgot."

"A succubus?" Pam said, shocked. She straitened up and let her fangs out. "What the fuck are you doing, Eric."

"Check yourself, Pam." Eric said low and threateningly. Pam quieted, but her fangs remained out, her eyes furious, but scared.

"And you, Eric." Godric warned. "You know we can't ignore this. She doesn't even know why her race was exterminated."

"She thinks it's because they were monsters." Eric states, wincing as Alice groaned from the other room.

"We're monsters." Godric corrected. "They were just sex crazed things."

Eric ran his hand through his hair again and growled. "What do we do?"

"The simplest way would be to kill her." Godric said. Eric was on his feet in a flash, fangs extended, a growl ripping through his chest. Pam took a step back, watching her maker with wide eyes. She retracted her own fangs. Godric remained calm, barely moved besides lifting one hand to Eric. "However that isn't going to happen, considering your . . . relationship."

Having that being said out loud, Eric paused, retracting his fangs and staring at Godric. Relationship? No, Eric Northman did not have relationships. He fucked girls, drank blood, and killed. There was no room for relationships.

"So we can protect her from herself." Godric continued, taking advantage of Eric's momentary lapse in anger. "Do you know if she has had any contact with witches?"

Eric straightens and shakes his head. "I don't think so. She's friends with Sookie, and the shifter at the bar. That's it for the supernatural."

Godric nods his head. "Good. We need to keep it that way. If the witches find out a succubus is still alive, then we're as good as dead. No pun intended."

"Are there even witches out there who know the ritual anymore?" Pam asks.

Godric glances back to her. "We need to assume there are, rather than not."

Pam nodded her head. "She can't stay here." She says.

"The hell she can't." Eric growls.

"Hush, Eric." Godric commands. "Pam is right. If we just keep her here, then it'll draw attention to her. It's best to leave her to her normal routine."

"I don't like that." Eric admits. "What if I'm wrong, and she has had contact with witches?"

Godric sighs. "Then god help us all."

It was a dim, sullen moment, shattered by Alice's screamed orgasm. Eric's shoulder hunched forward and he growled low in his chest. He could hear Alice's heart, drumming. He heard her dress, heard the boy praising her, on her body, her beauty, begging her to stay, to take him with her, they could live forever, happy, he'd love her.

Alice walked from the room, buttoning up her blouse. A sheen of sweet lined her forehead. Eric gave her a look filled with anger and death, and when she glanced up, she smiled. "For a virgin he sure knows how to work around a woman." She sighs.

Eric snarls as the boy runs out after her, trying to button his pants, leaving his shirt in the room. "Alice, wait! I love you!"

Her playful look dropped and she let out a low breathe, rolling her eyes. Eric was about to grab the kid and rip him apart when Alice turned first, catching the boys wrist in her hand. "I think you should go home." She sighs. "Go brag to your friends that you totally scored with some chick."

The boy's eyes widened, and then dulled. He nodded. "O-okay."

Alice dropped her hand t her side and turned back to Eric, but paused when she saw the look on his face. "What?" she asked.

"What the hell was that?" Eric demanded.

She looked over her shoulder, to the boy walking in a daze, still shirtless, out the door. "Remember how I made you slap yourself?" she asked.

Pam's giggle made the anger he felt then come back to life, but Godric was at his side, placing a calming hand on his arm. "You know their manipulative skills, Eric, this is not news to you." Godric reminded him. Eric nodded sharply.

"So, um, are we done here?" Alice asks, moving her hand around. "I've got work tomorrow—or today, actually what time is it?"

Eric shook his head. "No, we have a lot to figure out."

"Eric." Godric said softly. "Let her go home." The older vampire gives the younger a sharp look, and Eric gets the message clearly. He looks to Alice, whose eyes are filled with confusion. She can't know what she is capable of. Eric knows for certain that she would never use her gifts against him or his vampire race. But her knowledge of herself could come back to bite them all in the ass. Curiosity killed the succubus, or something like that. Godric turned to Alice and offered her a kind smile. "Can you come back here tomorrow night?"

She bit her bottom lip, and Eric was struck with a strong surge of want, of need, to bite that lip, ravish her body. He held back a growl, a moan, any noise, although inside he was on fire. "I guess I can, but it'll be really late. I'm working until one, I can make it over there afterwards, I guess."

Godric nodded. "That will be fine. Go home, get some rest, and we will see you tomorrow."

Godric gave Eric one last look before walking from the room. Pam, silent and still as a statue, looked between Eric and Alice and exited the room soon after Godric, leaving the two alone. Alice watched Pam leave, them looked back to Eric, her eyes guarded. "Thank you for giving me a place to rest." She said, her voice tense.

Eric smirked. He didn't like how she got so tense and guarded and hidden around him, not like this. He liked it when he said something a certain way, and the smallest of gasps left her mouth and she shifted her position to stifle the ache between her legs. He liked it when she chewed on her lip, and looked over at him with hooded eyes.

Alice swallowed, and looked at Eric. He wondered what she saw in his chi, if she saw the turmoil twisting through his entire body, his whole being. She tried to say something, couldn't so she cleared her throat, and tried again. "You should rest." She said in an awkward voice. "You seem stressed."

He let out a loud laugh that made her jump in surprise. "Thank you for your concern." He took a step closer to her, but she stood her ground. He saw the need in her eyes to run away from him, but her own stubbornness held her feet to the floor. He moved so they were inches apart and he could hear her heart beat hammering in her chest, her breathing coming in short ragged gasps. She shifted uncomfortably on her feet, and he smiled wider. That there, that urge to fight the need she felt for him, is what he liked. "You could help me with that, you know." He whispered, real quiet, eyes sparking.

"Help yourself with that." She said, trying to sound witty, but her voice shook.

He gave her a shit eating grin. He had been helping himself with that, ever since she started refusing him. "It's not healthy, to deny yourself what your body wants." He hummed, trailing a cold finger down her slender neck and across her collar bone. She shivered, and the beast within him purred in delight. "And we both know what you want."

He leaned down, sighing onto her cold skin, and she breathed into him, body arching into his, and a devious grin plastered his face. Until a small hand pressed against his chest, pushing. He didn't move at first, just stood there, breathing her in, fighting the urge to just do it, bite her, take her. Fuck it. He didn't need her to care about him. She was a mortal. He was a vampire. He was more powerful and older and god damn it he wanted it. But he did stand up, and it aggravated the fuck out of him that he did.

Her eyes were closed. She kept her hand on his chest, and he wondered what she was thinking while she caught the breathe he had taken and marveled in the warmth of her hand. "I think you should try to calm whatever it is your fighting with, inside of you, before you do anything stupid." She said softly.

Eric jerked back away from her, the moment ruined. Calm himself? Calm what? And who was she to tell him, a vampire, what he should do. Despite himself, however, he felt inside and he could feel the turmoil and the havoc wrecking his entire body. He felt the chaos. He felt like roaring and then hitting something, breaking something. But Alice stood in front of him, opening her eyes, staring at his feet, taking calming breathes. She was his turmoil, and it infuriated him. He was the calm one, the confident one, but she, this thing, was wrecking him from the inside out.

"See you tomorrow." She said, glancing up at him quickly, sighing when she saw his expression, and turned around, disappearing through the door. He was going to chase after her, even took a step, two steps, before he caught sight of the sunrise, and the lightening of the sky, and stopped. He watched the door close on her form and he was left in silence. He could hear her footsteps walking across the parking lot, and pause beside her car.

"Jesus Christ I fucking wrecked my car." He heard her groan. He straightened, brushed his hair from his eyes with one sweep of his hand, and smiled. He'd deal with this tomorrow.


	5. Chapter 5

My first clue that I was fucked was that I didn't wake to my alarm, but rather the sound of a truck rolling across gravel.

I cracked my eyes open, the bright sun practically burning my retinas, and turned on my side. My eyes rolled to the clock. 10:20.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" I jumped from the bed, half naked, with my hair flying and heart pounding. Shorts. I needed my shorts. I tore through my dresser, but I had no clean ones, and pulled out a pair from the hamper. They smelled clean enough, and I pulled them on, but the glass from the car windows last night had given them a small tear along the thigh. "Fucking perfect." I moaned.

Okay, I got the shorts, I just needed a bra, a white bra. It'll look pretty skanky to be the hot waitress sporting a bright pink bra under a sheer white shirt. There was a knock on my front door and I paused for a moment, contemplating if it would look slightly better if I wore my blue daisy bra. Maybe a little trampy, but definitely not whorish.

"Give me a second!" I called out.

Where the fuck was my bra? I ripped the blankets from the bed, lifted the sheets, crawled on my hands and knees across the floor, but it wasn't around. I thought back to last night, to what I did when I got home. I pulled my shirt and shorts off, pulled on a nightshirt, and passed out. Oh.

I pulled my night shirt off and groaned. I was wearing the fucking bra. I was too tired last night, and I hadn't even bothered to take it off. Another knock on the door irritated me. Had I not just said to wait? "Hold on to your fucking pants I'll be right there!"

I was going to pull my old shirt on when I threw it to the side. Sam had given me just two pairs of shorts, but four shirts. The math didn't add up to me, but I was thankful now as I ripped one out of my closet and pulled it over my head.

I jogged from the room and down the short hall to the living room. I quickly unlocked the door and pulled it open. A tall, beefy, really huge guy stood outside the screen door. He had dark hair, and the stubble of a five o'clock shadow stood out across his jaw. I stared for a moment. He was – hot. Not Eric hot, but country boy hot. And his chi. Oh god it was beautiful. It was powerful and dominating and screamed of predatorial things, of wildness and pureness and nature and—

"Alice McCarthy?" the man asked, taking me from my ogling. I looked back up to him and offered a smile.

"Yea, that's me. You are . . .?"

"Alcide." He said, smiling. "Eric sent me."

Oh. Of course he did. I rolled my eyes and unlatched the screen door. "Come on in. Don't mind me, I have to be in work in two and a half minutes."

I turned my back on him and rushed into the kitchen, throwing a piece of bread into the toaster and searching around for my shoes. Alcide walked hesitantly into the house. "You should be more careful on who you let into your house." He commented. "I could have been lying about Eric."

I glanced at him over my shoulder as I pulled the toast out and spread a thick layer of grape jelly across it. "Well are you?"

"No."

"Then there we go." I devoured the toast and pushed past him while he stood in the kitchen doorway, looking around the living room. "Why are you here, though?"

"I'm supposed to watch you." He said. I stopped mid step and glanced back at him, eyebrows raised.

"Eric got me a fucking babysitter?"

He shrugged. "Looks like it."

I laughed aloud and found one of the shoes by the doorway. "Well no offense but I don't need you. So I hereby release you of your duties. You're free. Go away."

Alcide leaned against the doorway and crossed his arms over his chest, a small smile playing across his face as if my running around amused him. "It doesn't work like that."

I shot him a look as I pulled the shoe on, hopping around on one foot as I did so. "Oh? Then how does this work?"

"I'm in debt to Eric, and this is how I'm repaying it. I can't leave until he tells me to."

I found the last shoe at the entrance to the hallway. Why did I take them off so far apart? Jesus I could barely even remember getting home, I was so exhausted. "Well then I can just tell him you stayed the whole day, huh?"

He shook his head. "And then something happens to you and Eric tears me in half."

I groaned. "Are you going to follow me to work, too?"

He nodded and I shot him a furious look. "I don't need you, okay? I don't even know why you're here in the first place, I'm not even in any danger or anything." I paused. Unless Eric wanted to make sure his little succubus didn't run off. I glanced at Alcide, who watched me curiously from the same position, all muscular and hot and whatnot. The thought of Eric sending him here just so I didn't leave infuriated me. I was his object, that's all I was. And to think that last night—and I thought I saw something in his eyes, maybe his chi—I shook my head. What a fucking bastard.

I kicked the little table where I kept my keys and the whole thing fell over, the small ceramic bowl on top shattering. "I can't fucking believe the rat bastard." I mumbled. I shoved past Alcide, none too gentle when I shoved him off balance and he stumbled. For such a big guy, he was good at catching his balance, almost graceful. "Fucking asshole. All he thinks about is him, what a prick."

I snatched my bag from the counter top and Alcide was smart to step from my way as I passed by for a second time. I grabbed my keys from the pile of broken ceramics, cutting open the palm of my hand as I did so, but I felt no pain. I shoved open the screen door and made a bee line to my car. The thing look so sad and pathetic, with all the windows shattered and the crappy paintjob and the cheapness of it all. Piece of shit.

I pulled the door open and started the car as Alcide walked from the house. "I'll see you at Merlot's, then." He called.

"If you fucking know what's best for you, I will never see your fucking face again." I spat. Oh, wow, okay that was a bit harsh. But I stick by what I say no matter how uncalled for it is. I mean, he was just doing what Eric said. He had a job to do. He knew nothing of me or Eric or what there was between us—which I know realize is nothing absofuckinglutely nothing—and was completely clueless. Still, he was here because of Eric, and since Eric wasn't here to be pissed at, he was the next best thing.

I drove furiously to work, and when I arrived, I was twenty minutes late and Sam was waiting for me, as was the two other waitresses covering my section, all pissed at me. They barraged me with questions and accusations as I walked into the bar, why I was late why I didn't answer my phone, blah blah blah.

I blew by all them and dumped by bag in the break room then waited five seconds for one of the girls covering my section to fill me in before diving into the scene and trying to vent my anger out on all the customers. Andy Bellefleur tried grabbing my ass on his fifth bear, and I nearly broke his hand. Some guy said something incredibly crude to his buds as I was walking away, and now he's going to be having nightmares until he's sixty.

Sam watched me from behind the bar when he wasn't giving out drinks to low life's or washing the counter with that rag of his.

The day was so long, longer than any other day in my life. I mean, what the fuck, right? Every other day goes by in a blur. The customers come and go so fast I can't keep count. But today, of all days, I know that there have been exactly thirteen guys and seventeen women who have come in here and gone in the two hours and thirty seven minutes I'd been on my shift. I'd given seven burgers and five steaks and three salads. Everyone else just got drinks and left me a shitty tip. I've made three dollars and seventeen cents, all in change.

I must have looked up at the clock on the wall eight hundred times every minute, but it never went any fast. I was stuck in the shift until it was over, but it felt like I was doubling, tripling, this one shift. Like it would never end.

All because of Eric. The fucking douche bag. I thought that he had wanted me around just because . . . I don't know, just because I was so fucking awesome. I shook my head. Stupid. So fucking stupid. Now that he knew I was a succubus he didn't want to let me go. I could do things. Apparently I could throw vampires across parking lots without touching them, and make car windows explode. I can manipulate people onto doing what I want. I can kill someone, just by touching them. I could be useful to him, to any vampire. I was just a fancy new toy to a thousand year old vampire. Fucking perfect.

I was walking back from the kitchen with a burger for some fat ass when Alcide walked in, all tall and glorious with his chi growling and wild. He stood in the doorway, looking for a moment before he laid his eyes on me, smiled, and took a seat in my section. I stopped, glared at him with fire in my eyes.

"Miss?" I ignored the guy in my section, grinding my teeth and fighting the urge to kill everyone in this room. "Hey lady!"

I turned sharply to the fat guy. I walked over to him, watched his impatient face change to wariness as I threw the burger down on the table. "What the fuck do you want now?" I hissed. He watched me, eyes wide, his double chin jiggling. "That's what I thought. Next time try not to be such a fcuking dick. And don't call me lady. I told you when I got here. Welcome to Merlots, my name is fucking ALICE. Enjoy the fucking burger."

I moved around him on a beeline to Alcide, who pretended to not see my storm of anger coming, but rather glance over a menu. "I told you not to show up." I growled.

He glanced up at me. "I was hungry." He said innocently.

I rolled my eyes. "Cut the shit, I am so not in the mood. You're here to watch me, and I don't like it."

Now he rolled his eyes. "I'm not here to watch you. I'm here for a burger, I heard they're good."

I straightened up and watched him carefully. He wasn't moving, I could tell. I was an intimidating person when I was angry, but he sat there, brown eyes innocent and sweat and sexy and he was calm and collected and fuck me gorgeous. He wasn't moving.

"Fine. Whatever."

I turned on my heal to walk away when he grabbed my wrist, stopping me. The sudden contact startled me and his chi entered me with an electric shock. I turned back to him cautiously. He looked up at me from where he sat with serious eyes. "I'm sorry for whatever he's done to you." He said, quietly, voice soft and caressing.

I pulled my hand from his grip and held it to my chest, looking at him curiously. "Thank you." I muttered.

"Alice!" I looked up to Sam, seething at the bar. I glanced back to Alcide, and then left him without a word.

"What, Sam." I sighed.

"What the fuck do you call that shit?" he growled.

"What, Sam." I mumbled. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"What you just did with Pete." He snapped.

"Pete? Who the hell is—" I looked back to who Sam was talking about, to fatty who was eating his burger and giving me the death eye. "Oh, that Pete."

"Yes, Alice, that Pete." Sam growled. "You cannot treat the customers like that. I won't let you. I don't give a shit what's got you all wound up today, just cool your shit before the dinner rush. Go, get your head together."

"My breaks not for another hour, Sam."

"I don't give a shit. Just go, I want you back in forty minutes."

He pushed away from the counter and turned back to grab his rag and start scrubbing down the counter for the sixth time that hour. I stared at him, feeling a tingle of shame in my belly, before turning back to the break room and grabbing my bag. I moved to my car quickly. I threw the door open, dropped myself in the passenger seat, and tried to move, to run it on and peel out of there. I wanted to be one of those people from all the TV shows who drives alone the lake, stops on the beach and throws rocks into the water until their head is clear and they have a revelation.

Unfortunately, the people in those shows issues don't involve vampires and succubuses and the whole works. They involve a teenage break up and paper cuts.

I rested my head against the steering wheel and closed my eyes tightly. God I was so angry. I was angry at Eric and Alcide and Sam and Sookie and every stranger who walked into the bar. I was angry at me for being a succubus and for killing and for catching the eye of a vampire and any man who walked around. I was angry at me for being who I was.

_I was in Jimmy's car. We were supposed to be on the way to the movies but he had pulled over, had looked at me with horny eyes and I had seen his chi circling and twisting. I could feel it in the air, taste the sex in it and it made me ravenous. I was so hungry, and I didn't know what for. In the pit of my stomach a beast was growling and I didn't know what to do to quench it._

I hit my head against the steering wheel, begging myself to not remember. My goal in life was to not remember. Not remember the kill after it was committed, not remember last night's fuck. I live for the next day, not for yesterday. But I had no control, I was hurting, I was hungry, I was angry and I couldn't stop remembering—

_He was kissing me, inexperienced lips slobbering on my neck and his hands were everywhere, shaking and giddy. His chi breathed into me. The beast purred. My hands twisted into his hair and combed the soft lock as his teenage fingers found their way beneath my shirt and tickled the smooth skin of my abdomen. I sighed his name, moved into him. It wasn't comfortable. We had the divider between our two seats and the seat belt dug into my hip but I was a teenager and I was having my first kiss, my first groping session, everything was fresh and exciting and he tasted so good—_

I leaned back in my seat, hands wound tightly around the steering wheel. I tried thinking of something else, anything. But all I saw was high school that year, my junior year, how I started feeding off of everyone I passed without thinking, how all the boys started to follow me, how my prom date tried to take advantage of me when I wouldn't put out, how even the teachers got too touchy. All I saw was myself after puberty, after I started to change and I started changing everyone around me. I wasn't Alice anymore. I was a monster and there was no one to tell me what I was doing wrong, why I was such a beast, why I had to kill people and feed from people and why they had to come after me with only one intent.

I just wanted to be normal. I just wanted to go to high school and I wanted friends. But all the girls hated me because their boyfriends would always watch me, think of me, and not them. I had no friends, it was just me against the world and the world only wanted to get into my pants.

_Jimmy ran his hands along my abdomen, up to my bra, panting against my neck. His fingers pinched my skin and it hurt but his chi was so good, tasted so great. I was breathing him in. I didn't know it was weakening him. I just thought I was tasting it, not feeding I just thought that we were having fun, this was fun—_

_I felt a tingle and then a harsh, painful snap. I internally checked myself. That wasn't my physical body getting hurt. No, it was his chi. It was swirling around inside of me and it was exhilarating, I had no idea it could be this good, no idea at all. I looked to Jimmy, wondering why he had stopped. _

I bit my lip. I hadn't known what I could do. Maybe if someone else out there had been like me, if I had known them, they could have told me. But I was a freak among normal kids. I was a lion among the lambs. I didn't know, I swear I didn't know—

"_Jimmy?" I asked, breathless. I was still smiling blissfully, on the top of the world, and nothing could bring me down. Until his hands fell to his side and his mouth, open in an empty sigh, his eyes, dulling, pupils dilating, head falling away, body dropping into itself. "Jimmy?"_

_I was scrambling away. I felt the snap in his chi. Could it have been—could I have—did I take all his chi? Was that snap the end tail of it all. My back hit the passenger door and I was screaming and screaming and screaming. I had killed him, he was dead. His body dropped against the seat, his chin falling to his chest eyes wide open with the shadow of his lust still in his eyes and his mouth still open like he was kissing me._

_I reached over, grabbed onto his arm roughly. I tried giving his chi back, I didn't want it anymore, didn't want to feel his life inside of me. I had killed him and I had taken his life. I rubbed at his arm and the side of his face, across his hand and finger tips and everywhere. I cried and screamed and hit him, I punched him, I tried giving it back, I didn't want to, didn't want this life when he couldn't have it anymore—_

There was a knock on the side of my door that startled me out of my reveries. I jumped and looked out, to Alcide, leaning down to look at me in the car. "I would have tapped on the window." He said. "But you don't seem to have one."

I looked up at him, his small smile, and I laughed. It loosened the ache in my chest. "Are you okay?" he asked me softly. I let out one more chuckle before swallowing anymore laughter. I pulled the door open as he stood out of the way.

I shook myself and nodded. "Yea, I'm fine. I'm fine." I gave him a smile, so fake and plastic it hurt my face. I saw that he saw it, and felt an urge to get out of there. I started to walk away, having no idea where I was going. I wasn't going back into Merlotte's, Sam would kick my ass. And I wasn't going to drive unless I wanted to crash my car into a tree in spite of my anger. I was just going to walk.

But again, for the second time today, he caught onto my wrist and I felt the electricity of his chi course into me, make me shiver. I looked back over to him. "What are you?"

He gave me a small, manly smile, and I marveled in how warm his hand was on my wrist, how smooth and intense his chi was. I felt the beast in me mew and growl and beg to feed, even though I wasn't hungry. He tasted so raw, and it made me go crazy.

I shook my head. This was my problem, right here, this thing I have. I lose control, let the beast take me, and then I take a life. This is the bane of my existence, this monster. It was not me, but an attachment. This person here that Alcide held on to was Alice. The beast inside of me screaming to be let lose was something else all together.

But it was so strong. And I was so angry, my emotions so raw and I couldn't even hold it back. Not even for one day.

I launched myself at Alcide, crashing my lips to his. He held onto my wrist, eyes wide and looking at me, frozen. I worked at him though, my lips moving against his, tongue sliding across his lips, until his eyes closed, and he responded, and he was moving with me, our tongues battling for control. He tasted too raw, like the forest.

He turned us around so my back rested against the steaming metal of my car. He lifted me and I wrapped my legs around his waist, hands roaming his hard body, touching everywhere. He kissed me with passion, with dignity. Like Eric always kissed me in my dreams, like he kissed me whenever I lost control with him. With Alcide now I acted on my beast's part.

With Eric I acted for myself.

I pushed Alcide away with my remaining strength. He released me instantly, dropping me to my feet and taking five quick steps back and away. His eyes were wide, staring at me. "Jesus." He breathed, coming back to himself now that I had stopped feeding. "What are you?"

I rested my hands on my knees, holding my eyes shut tight to gain control. "Don't steal my line, man." I breathed.

God damn it Eric. I couldn't even feed anymore without thinking about him, and I was pissed as all hell. He had fucked me over good. He'd used me, made me feel . . . whatever this was, for him and I couldn't even be properly pissed.

But I could be hurt.

"I think I'm going back to work." I said when I had caught a piece of myself again.

"I thought your boss sent you on break?"

I shake my head. "I don't give a fuck. You can stick around if you want, I don't want Eric to kill you. Just try not to touch me anymore you can get seriously hurt."

I looked up at him and he was smiling. "I doubt you can really hurt me."

I stood up straighter and bent so my back cracked. I walked past him and patted his arm. "Whatever you say."

Sam caught me as I tried slipping into the break room to put my bag down. "I thought I sent you out? I told you, I don't want you back here—"

"Sam, shut up, I'm better." I begged.

"No, you're not. You need time for yourself—"

I held my hand up to stop him. "I promise I won't attack anymore customers. But working right now is what I really need, not some pity break."

He sighed and looked at me with eyes saying I was a pain in his ass. "Fine. Get going then."

I gave him a smile and set to work.

"I just need to drive you over to Fangtasia and my shift is up." Alcide said, taking another swallow of his beer. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not going, so you can just clock out now. Drive safe." I patted him on the shoulder and moved through the empty restaurant to Sookie, sitting at the bar and watching me carefully, probably reading my mind by the way her eyebrows rose.

"Woah, woah, I can't do that." Alcide said, standing up and chasing after me. "Eric gave me specific orders to take you to Shreverport after you got off of work. He was clear, Alice."

I rolled my eyes at Sookie, looking for a smirk, but her face was concerned. "Maybe you should just go, Alice." She suggested.

I sat down on the bar stool and rested my elbows up on the polished wood. Sam always made sure it looked pretty. "I don't _feel_ like it, okay?"

"He's not a guy you want to fuck with, Alice." Alcide warned.

"You don't think I know that?" I spat. "Jesus, just go home, Alcide. If he asks tell him I shoved a boot up your ass."

He growled then, low in his chest, and I glanced at him with raised eyebrows. "I just can't do that!" he snapped.

"Alice, seriously." Sookie said, biting on her nail. "I don't think you should mess with Eric anymore."

"_Anymore_?" Alcide asked. "What other shit have you been pulling with this guy?"

"None of your fucking business." I snapped.

Sookie placed a hand on my arm, meant to calm me, but I flinched away from her involuntarily. I didn't miss the hurt flash in her eyes, but she covered it up in that expert way of hers, and plowed on. "Listen, Alice." Sookie says calmly. "I know Eric. I hate that I do, but I know him. He chased after me because I denied him, and only for that fact. He didn't need me for my telepathy, but for my body, and to take me because I belonged to someone else."

I shook my head. "Sookie, what does this have to do with—"

"Just _listen_." She pleaded, and moved on before I could say anything. "He didn't need anything from me. But . . . but he saved you that night. He gave you his blood. And—and he let you stay on his bed last night—"

"How many times have I told you to stay out of my head—"

"And you can see the turmoil inside of him, you can't deny that unless you wish to be blind, but you're not that kind of person. He doesn't want you just for your body, Alice. You can't deny that. A-and I know you're pissed at him and you want to forget him and ignore him. You want it to be like that, want him to only want your body because then things will stay simple but it hasn't been simple since you hit puberty and you—"

"Stop!" I snapped, and she shut up, but her eyes were pleading and desperate, as if all she cared about was getting me to understand. I sighed, and leaned against the counter, looking at her and her weird energy, before turning the stool around to face Alcide. I reached out and grabbed his wrist before he could react. "Go home." I said softly. "Forget this entire day. When Eric comes to find you, tell the truth, tell him you forgot the entire day, and you don't even know me."

I watched his eyes dim, and he nodded once before turning around slowly in a sleeping daze and disappeared out the door and into the warm darkness outside. I turned back to Sookie, who bit her lip sadly. "I get it, Sookie." I said, although I didn't. I knew she could read my mind, knew I was lying, but she stayed silent. "But I just want to go home, and sleep. I want to get into my house before Eric shows up demanding where I have been and I don't have my own property to keep him out."

I stood up, my bag already slung over my shoulder and started to walk away before I remembered something. "And stay out of my head."

I drove home slowly, glancing at the clock. I'd be two hours late by now. Eric would know I wasn't showing up, and he'd be calling Alcide. Alcide would answer, wonder aloud who I was, get into an argument with Eric until Eric realized what I had done to him, and then he'd be the one making his way down here. He might already be here.

I scrunched my face up and tried to ignore the sting inside my chest. I didn't feel like seeing him, more so than ever. Because when I saw him look at me, I know all he'd be thinking about me was that I was his object, his precious little succubus, ready to do his bidding. Sookie was wrong. What he was doing to me now is exactly what he had done to Sookie. He had no feelings, only had the mind set to take what wasn't his, and claim it, to own the world.

Well too fucking bad.

I pulled into my driveway and sat in the car for a moment. I know, I should be running to the front door and getting inside before he showed up. But there was no other car in the driveway or on the road. The night was completely silent. I wondered, briefly, what it might feel like to be a mid twenties woman coming home from work to her husband and her children and feeling a sense of accomplishment. How does it feel to know that if you have sex with someone, there is no possible chance you might drain him of all his energy, and kill him? What did it feel like not having dead bodies on your conscious? Or to not sport a scar across your abdomen courtesy of your mother, who believed until the last seconds of her life that you were a monster, and went to her grave thinking her daughter was a demon.

I ripped the door open and stood up. I glanced around me quietly, and then thrust the car door closed as hard as possible. It slammed and reverberated through the darkness. But it wasn't enough so I kicked the living shit out of it, threw my bag against it and hit the frame with my fists until my knuckles bled and my toes were bruised. I left the bag lying on the floor and limped up the porch steps.

"Is there something on your mind?"

I paused, only slightly, to look at the small bench beside the door. Eric was sprawled out, his legs open arms spread across the back of the bench. He was looking at me, eyebrows raised, the cocky son of a bitch none the wiser of how utterly pissed off I was. I stalked past him, not giving him anything, no look or sigh or words or anything, and went for the door.

He was in front of me before I could even reach the handle. "Why didn't you come tonight?" he asked, his voice melting into seriousness.

I stared at his chest, refusing to look up into his face. I didn't want to see that shit eating grin or that glitter in his fucking perfect eyes. "I was busy." I snapped.

"Oh? Busy beating the shit out of your car?"

I sighed. "Eric, move out of the way."

He didn't, though, just stood right where he was, not breathing or emitting heat or anything. He was dead, his heart was dead, even his energy tasted dead. I wished he'd go away, and be dead for someone else.

"What did I do?" he asked eventually.

I look up at him despite myself. "Excuse me?"

"What did I do to make you so angry?" his eyes searched mine, his face a mask. I couldn't tell one thing from another, but I ignored the way he looked at me. I'd been reading too much into these very looks the past week or so, and it's gotten me into a pile of shit.

"I don't feel like talking about it, Eric." I sighed. I was so tired. Not just my body, but my entire being. I wanted to go to bed. "I just need some sleep. I had a long day."

"Yes, Alcide disagrees, though." Eric said, a spark or irritation in his eyes. I smirked, glad I at least made him feel somewhat angry, even if it didn't amount to what I felt now. "He doesn't even know who you are, but he spent the entire day with you."

"I didn't need a fucking baby sitter, Eric." I snap, and push at his chest but he didn't move. "Get the fuck out of my way!"

He caught onto my wrists and held them in one of his massive hands. No matter how hard I wiggled or moved, he didn't let them go until I gave up and stood there. "I want to know what happened, why you're so angry." He said quietly.

"Like you care." I snap. His eyes spark again, but not with irritation this time. It looked like—no, stop it Alice. That's exactly what I've been fucking saying. I look into shit like this and it gets me alone with a vampire in the middle of a night.

His eyes are searching me again and I absolutely hate him for it, hate that he thinks he can try to figure me out, like I'm one of his silly little humans that are so transparent and so see through, that he can give them one look and just pick them apart. I'm not someone you can toy with, Eric. I wanted to shout that at him but I was overcome with anger so fierce it bit at me, tore me apart from the inside out.

"Let go of me." I said, voice so sharp it could cut right through him.

"Not until you tell me—"

"I could kill you." I breathe, and look to our hands, to his energy cupping my skin, moving down my arm. I don't take it in, just let it be near me. But I could. I could take it, take it all, rid myself of Eric and all of his . . . his self righteousness and all of his bullshit. I wouldn't have to deal with him. "Right now. I could do it."

I wondered how much trouble threatening a vampire gets you into. For a human, I guess it's a few laughs, and the foundation for a future joke at some vampire get together. For me, a succubus, it very well could be a death wish.

But Eric freezes and his ice cold chi suddenly stills along my skin and shivers into me. I don't like how it feels, I don't like the taste of it at all. I cringe away from it, but it does no good, it's with me, around me. It's always around me. I can never escape the energy, can never be to myself and to my own thoughts and my own chi. I was a prisoner to the life forces around me.

"Do you hate me that much?" he breaths, and his voice is shredded. I look up at him and even though I slap myself around a bit, I read into his expression, and the pain there is so deep I feel it myself, feel it as my own pain. I feel for a second, just a second, that I wish I could take it back, what I had just said, take that pain away.

But I shake my head and when I pull my hands back, he lets me. I take a few steps backwards, careful not to fall down the steps. "No." I moan, confused. "No, not you. Maybe you—fuck, I don't know anymore."

I place my hands on my head and try to think, but I can't, everything is too much and I've been so angry, all day, and I'm so tired. I want to let Eric make me feel better, but I don't let myself. "I'm just—" I let out a long sigh and drop my hands, looking up at Eric. He quickly covers his emotions when I look at him, but I see it, I see that pin in there, like my pain is his, just like moment before his had been mine.

I lean against one of the posts. "I just wish I wasn't me, maybe for just an hour, or something. Like, I could stand here, threaten to kill you, a vampire, and not actually be able to. Or that you—you could look at me and not see—see this, see this thing, this monster. Maybe you could see me."

I shook my head and closed my eyes, trying to clear the pounding headache. "That's what's got you angry, then." Eric muttered. I didn't look at him or move or open my eyes. "You think I'm here because you're a succubus."

My silence was his answer. "If I was human, Eric, you would not be standing on my porch."

He was silent for a moment. I wanted to open my eyes and see into his eyes, see what he was thinking, but I didn't. I had at least that much strength. "I don't think I'd be standing here if you were a succubus, either." He said eventually. Against my better judgment I looked up at him, confused. "I think I'd get Alcide to bring you to Fangtasia, and lock you in the basement until I got what I wanted."

I shivered from his words, the image he created horrifying me. He took a step closer, and I froze. I couldn't move or think or run or scream. I watched him walk over to me, very tall and intimidating and sexy and hot and handsome and—

"I think that if I wanted you because you were a succubus, I wouldn't wonder all night why you have a scar." He mumbled, fingers tickling the shirt covering the scar. I swallowed, I couldn't breathe. "I don't think I'd watch you sleep and scream about your mom and some kid, Jimmy." His hand moved up to the side of my face. His cool hands cooled my burning skin. I wanted to sigh into his hand, give into him, but I held strong ad tall, almost trembling from the exertion it took to stay away from him and his soft words. "I don't think I'd be as . . . uncomfortable with the fact that it's me your angry at."

I jerked away from his hand and moved around him, but I didn't go inside. I stared at the door, frozen in spot with my back to him. Go inside, my beast roared. Get away, you're in danger.

But Eric wouldn't hurt me. The revelation was quick and clear and knocked the breath out of me. He wouldn't hurt me. Eric would never, ever hurt me. I was standing here in the night and he could kill me, bite me, hurt me, take me, do whatever to me, but he doesn't because I see it in his eyes and in his chi that he physically cannot bring himself to harm me.

I turn back around to him, nervous, but for what I don't know. He stands tall and tense, looking down at me. "Why do you have the scar?" he asks.

"Jesus." I breathe. "You are fucking relentless, aren't you?" his eyes are so intense when he looks at me, boring into my head, trying to get the information out with just a look. "I was in a car accident." I lied.

"You would have healed all the way." He muttered, stepping closer to me again. He was so relentless, and I liked it, like that he wouldn't just let me run away, and that he kept chasing after me. "You would have healed every wound. I just want to know how you stopped yourself from healing, how you were able to keep a scar."

I back up until my back is pressed against the screen door and he's inches away. He runs his thumb down my neck, rubbing soft circles into my skin. I sigh into the touch, let out a small breathe. His eyes flicker into mine. They're so blue, and so intense, and so soft and I want to fall away into them, fall away and away and away. "You can tell me." He murmurs.

"My mom stabbed me." I found myself saying. I jerked out of his grip, shocked and startled that I had said that. But Eric didn't move away, his hand was frozen in air where he had been touching me, and his body was tense. I had told him, told him the truth. I'd never, ever told anyone. I'd never wanted to but after that small little sentence I wanted to tell the rest, wanted to pour my god damn soul out onto the porch for him to take.

I started to breathe heavy. My head was hurting and it felt like it would explode. "She stabbed me." I said again, and the tenseness is my skull went away slightly. I let out a shaky laugh, ignoring how morbid it was under the circumstances. "My mother stabbed me in the abdomen. She stabbed me. She stabbed me with the kitchen knife she uses to chop up the meat she gets from the butcher. She stabbed me in the kitchen when I got home."

I was moving across the porch and I said it again and again and again until the pounding in my head was almost gone and I felt like I was so light, like I could float away. I was panting, like I had run a marathon, but I turned back to Eric. He was staring at me with an indiscernible look in his eyes. "Tell me." He said again.

And then I told him. I told him it all. "She thought I was a monster." I breathed. I leaned back against the porch railing, hugging myself, hiding the scar beneath my arms even though the shirt covered it. "I killed my date earlier, and I came home crying and I told her what happened, begged her for help but she thought I was a demon and she ran into the kitchen. I chased after her because she was my mom, and I needed her to see it was me, her daughter, her Alice, and that I needed her help because I was so scared. I was terrified."

_She runs into the kitchen, tripping over her own feet. She starts to scream and I feel a piece of me tear. She's scared of me. I pass myself in the mirror and I see my hair, skewed, my make up over my face from crying. I look like a monster. I am a monster. I run after mom, find her in the kitchen on the other side of the island, gasping. "Stay away!" she screams. "Stay away from me!"_

"_Mom, it's me." I beg, stepping forward. "It's me, mom, I swear."_

_She's shaking her head, her fake curled hair flying, tears running. "No." she cries. "No, you demon, you have my daughter, but you are not her."_

_My fingers clench into tight fists. I cry out, not any words, just a sound. There's colors all around her. I've seen them for a few months now. They're beautiful, and moving, curling and twisting. I'd just started seeing them. I'd never wanted to feed from them, though. I watch her, her lights, and I want it, I want those lights for myself, like I did with Jimmy today, in his car—but now he's dead. I killed him._

_A shiver courses through my body and I'm gasping. "Mom, I'm so scared." I admit. "I'm so scared. Help me."_

_I take one more step and she launches half of her body over the counter, grabs a knife from the knife block and holds it in both hands. It shakes; she can't hold it steady, can't hold it up straight to her daughter._

_My lips tremble, I see her fear, her self preservation leaking from her. "Mom, it's me." I whisper. "Look at me."_

_Her eyes aren't looking though. She sees me, sees me crying and walking slowly towards her, but she's not looking. She's not looking for her daughter in me, all she sees is this monster. I place a hand on the cold marble counter top. I helped her pick it out when we bought the house. My body aches for those times, not this, not this moment here, right now. I take a step around, so we're just feet away, facing each other with only the knife to separate us._

"_Stay away!" she screamed, but the knife is shaking so bad, she can barely contain it._

_I stop, and hold my hands up. They are clean. There is no blood on them, but yet I have a dead body on my conscious. "It's me, mom." I say quietly, biting back any emotion. I need her to see me. I need her to look for me. "It's Alice. It's me, your daughter, and I'm scared. I'm scared and I need you."_

_Her arms tire, I see shivers run through the muscles, and she lets out a rough gasp before her arms drop to her side. Her eyes are puffed and red and she grinds her teeth together roughly. "Alice." She whispers. I let out a sigh, and know she's seen me, knows she can help me. She's my mom again, not my prey, not someone weaker than me. She's here to take care of me, and I rush forward, wrapping my arms around her should and I hug her. My body tenses as I fight the urge to feed from her light. This is my mother. She will protect me until the day I die, and I will not feed from her, not even if I am in pain and dying, not even if—_

_There's an awful, awful pressure in my abdomen. My breathe leaves my body and I take a step back as if someone has punched me right in the stomach. I've stopped crying. Emotions don't exist within me in this moment, and all I can see is mom, standing there, body shivering. She won't stop shaking. I tilt my head to the side. Had she punched me? "Mom?" I murmur. _

_Her arm, trembling so, so bad, lifts up the knife and she looks at it, her eyes wide and unmoving and I look at it too. Something's dripping from it. Blood. That's blood. "Mom?" I say, and I'm scared._

_The pressure reverberates through my body like electrical currents. I look down. I was wearing my white blouse. I had wanted to look good for jimmy tonight. But it was stained, and the crimson patch was growing, and spreading. I was going to have to throw this shirt away._

_I shake my head. Mom had—she—I was stabbed._

_My legs tremble as bad as her body is and I fall to my knees. I make contact with the cold, hard tiles and my knees ache from the impact. Mom drops the knife. My blood splatters out from it across the floor. I look up at her as my hands press into the wound, trying to stop the bleeding, trying to close it. She didn't stab me. It was an accident. She slipped, hadn't realized she was holding it, didn't know what she was doing—_

_She slowly lowers herself to her knees, so our eyes are on the same level. She's crying again. She doesn't come to me, doesn't help me, and I'm crying too, I'm in so much pain. The wound emits shocks of angering burns through my body. I cough. Something wet is in my throat, and when it comes out, onto the front of my shirt, it's a splatter of blood._

_I'm dying._

"_Mom, help." I say quietly. My voice lacks all commitment. I see it in her eyes that she won't help me. She sits back on her heals, her arms wrapping around herself, hugging herself. She rocks forwards, and backwards, eyes wide and staring, staring at me, staring at my blood, staring at my death. "Help."_

_I lean forward, hands touching the tiles. I don't have a grip, and my hands slide in the blood and I'm falling to my stomach, and onto my back, and I'm holding the wound but it's bleeding, and it won't stop. It comes out through my finger tips and out of my shirt, onto the floor. It pools around me until I'm swimming in my own blood. The room is bright. Everything is emanating its own life. I hear mom whimper but more so I feel her, feel her energy, feel it shriveling and locking itself away deep inside her, in a strange way, as if it's not part of her anymore, but hidden, secret, detached._

_I reach a blind hand to her. I let go of the wound. I'm dying and it hurts. I never thought about how much it could hurt to die. I figured—I just thought that—_

"_Mom, I'm sorry." I whisper. "I'm so sorry."_

Eric's in front of me in a moment, and I'm ripped from my memories, to him and me right now, and I wonder what he's going to do. He surprises me to the deepest parts of my being when his arms snake around me and pull me to his chest. I breathe in the scent of him, gasp it in. "Tell me." He mutters, and I'm shaking, but I tell him, because my words are safe with him when they never have been before.

"I was dying." I choke. "I had no control. I blacked out and I thought I was gone. I felt light and empty. All my chi was gone, had worked on healing the wound but she had stabbed right into the liver, and it was really bad, it was so bad. I had fed only once, and it was on Jimmy. I didn't have enough energy to even close a piece of my organ before it split open again.

"I swear to god I didn't mean it. I didn't mean to do it, I wish I could take it back but I was young and I didn't know what I was doing and I was losing so much blood. I- I woke up. I didn't know how long it had been, but I woke up and—and my mom she—she—I had—"

Eric's hand stroked my hair, sending calming shivers down my spine and I leaned into him, fists gripping onto the front of his shirt. "I killed her." I gasped. His hands stilled for an inaudible second before continuing. I closed my eyes, ashamed, but I kept going. I kept going even though I could feel the disgust in Eric, knew he'd throw me away. "I was unconscious when I fed from her. I woke up and she was unconscious, and there was barely any chi left, it was just whispers, feathers of light around her body. I still had a real bad cut in my stomach, it was bleeding, but I stopped feeding. I've almost died three other times in my life, and never before have I been able to stop the beast inside from feeding when I'm dying. I have no self control. I feed to heal. But with my mom, I just stopped, and I was holding onto the wound and I moved across the floor, shook her, tried to wake her up. I hadn't completely drained her, I thought she'd wake up. I didn't know that- that I could have fed it back to her, I didn't know how to do that yet. Then her chi, it just—she just—it all just flew from her body and into the air and the colors faded and they became a part of the air all around me. She died. I couldn't save her."

I couldn't take it anymore and pushed myself from Eric. I had to see what he thought, had to see the look on his face. He had to be horrified, disgusted, ashamed of me and how much of a monster I was—

The sadness seeping from his eyes hit me like a punch to the gut. I stared at him, eyes wide. The pressure in my head and body was gone. My life's secret, the thing that had manipulated who I was for years, was out on the table, and here he was, sad for me. "I'm sorry." He said finally. His chi was so confused, floundering around him like a lost puppy.

He'd never done this before, I realized. He'd never stood before a woman and had felt sorry for them, felt moved to be around them, and help them, and talk to him. I swallowed. "Sorry?" I breathed.

"I—I wish I could have saved you from that."

I stared at him, surprised. And then I decided. I launched myself at him, on my tip toes, grabbing at his shirt and grabbing his arms and his face and crashed my lips to his. He stumbled back, surprised, caught himself and held onto me, his arms instantly wrapping around the small of my back and lifting me to him, kissing me back and holding onto me. He was so cold but he was setting my body on fire. I was desperate as my fingers clawed at his face and the back of his neck, fingers running down his spine, making him shiver. I smiled against him.

"Eric." I breathed into him. He leaned back, looking down at me, and I saw he felt it too, elated that I wasn't the only one to have this . . . this magnificent feeling coursing through my veins. He was confused as fuck, but I held onto the side of his face with my hand, and without knowing it his head moved into my palm for comfort. "Please come in."

He wastes no time, only a moment to look at me with wide eyes, raking across my boy, before he's taking me in his arms and ripping the door open, pulling me into the house with him. He steps over the broken ceramic bowl on the floor, doesn't stop to ask about it. He rests me on the arm of the couch and breaks our contact so I can breathe. I claw at his shirt, pulling apart the buttons, and then sliding it down his arms. I marvel at his body, how perfect it is, the marble skin, how hard the muscles were.

I ran my hand from his belly button up, across his nipple, and he growled down at me. I looked up at him as he attacked my mouth, biting and sucking and licking. His lips trailed down my neck as his hands fumbled for the hem of my shirt, and pulled back to lift it from my body.

I stood up, grabbing onto his face, my heart beating with a need. This was not the hunger from my beast. This was a new hunger, one coming from me, the real me, coming from Alice. I wanted him more than anything, wanted him now, right into this moment. I ravished his mouth, tongues fighting for dominance, as he unclasped my bra and let it fall to the floor. He pulled us apart from each other and I whimpered as his eyes rolled across my body, fangs extending. I felt on fire under his gaze.

He picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist in an iron grip, not willing to let go. He rushed us to the back of the house, to my bedroom, dropped me onto the old and creaking mattress. My head rolled back, I stared at the ceiling, as his mouth devoured my beasts, tongue rolling across the nipple, hands kneading and molding. I grabbed onto this hair, sighed into his touches. He had taken my shorts off without me knowing, and was gently pulling the panties with his cold fingers, finally tearing them off from frustration.

I gasped forwards, sitting up, letting him ogle my body shamelessly as I fumbled with his pants, tried to undo the button but my hands were practically shaking with need. I wanted this, and wanted even more knowing how much he wanted it too.

Finally he softly took my hands away and tore the pants off himself, dropping his pants down around his ankles. I swallowed, face to face with his member, and looked up to him, licked my lips once. I wanted this, wanted it so bad.

Slowly he leaned over me, making me fall back against the bed. His mouth was on my neck, tongue grazing the skin. I moaned. "Eric, I need you." I begged.

He lifted his head and looked down at me. He bit my bottom lip lightly, drawing a prick of blood that he quickly licked away. "Eric." I mumbled. "Take me."

I felt him at my entrance, slowly pushing into me, achingly slow, until he was completely sheathed within me. He let out a ragged breathe and ducked his head into the nape of my neck, keeping perfectly still. I was breathless with the sensation of being so completely filled. My hands smoothed over his shoulder, until he started moving, gentle at first, until his rhythm became faltered and rough, hips rocking into me, eyes boring into mine. "Eric." I moaned, fingers reaching up and trailing over his fangs. I was so close, felt it building into a tight coil in my lower stomach. I was panting, moving with him, hips rotating and moving and thrusting and I was close. "Eric, bite me." I whispered.

He looked down at me, unsure. "Do it." I moaned. "Eric I'm—I'm close—_fuck_—"

I felt his cold lips on my neck, felt him breathe against the skin even though it was unnecessary. I raked my fingers along the skin of his back, and he growled into my neck. And that did it for me. I came undone and cried out his name and he bit into my neck quickly. It didn't hurt, I didn't feel it until the pleasure from the bite slammed into me and I was rocked with it, the might of it all. He thrust into me once, twice, three more times before he shuddered and his own orgasm hit.

He collapsed onto the bed at my side, careful not to land on me. I was still running from the high of it, panting and sweating, when I realized, in a shocking second, that I had not fed from him. I looked at him sharply, felt inside of myself, but no, I had none of his chi. I ran a hand across his chest. "I didn't feed from you." I said in wonderment. "That's never happened."

He smiled, licking my blood from his lips. "You're beautiful." He muttered, brushing hair from my face, and I laughed. It was spectacular, being in bed with Eric. He'd gotten what he wanted. He'd finally fucked me. But he laid here, brushing sweaty hair from my forehead, telling me I was beautiful in a way no other man has said, and he was staying. He was staying with me.

"Thank you." I mutter.

He tilts his head to the side. "For what?"

I shrug. "I'm not sure yet."

He smiles, and holds me, and he makes love to me. It's not fucking or having sex or anything like he's probably used to. It was making love, and it was sweet and gentle and beautiful, and he was holding me, always holding me, and he never let me go.


End file.
